


Lead Me Back To You

by lilyruby



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bullying, Cats, Fire, Flowers, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, It's really just cute, Junior High, Just One Kind Old Lady, Letter Hunting, M/M, Magic, Mild Swearing, Multi, Nekoma as Cats, Not Beta Read, Original Character(s), Platonic Relationships, Sickness, Tea, Wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29488371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyruby/pseuds/lilyruby
Summary: Having just transferred schools, an anonymous letter spirals Sugawara Koushi into a journey to find the mysterious sender as he discovers a bit of magic along the way.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru/Sugawara Koushi, Iwaizumi Hajime/Sugawara Koushi, Oikawa Tooru/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	Lead Me Back To You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this fic is heavily lifted from one of my favourite webtoons, Your Letter/Yeon's Letters by Cho Hyeon A. Please do read this webtoon, it's short and sweet and just so wholesome. I just love this webtoon so much, it gives me comfort so I made a fic out of it using IwaOiSuga! You can read it on the webtoon app for free.
> 
> Before you read this fic, please read the tags, bullying is a recurrent theme in this fic so please don't read if you're uncomfortable.
> 
> For background music, I just listened to Yorushika's Ghost of a Flower and Usotsuki on repeat as I made this. They're both the OSTs for the movie A Whisker Away (another wholesome movie) and the vibe is just beautiful. Anyway, enjoy reading!
> 
> By the way, this fic is set in their final year of junior high.

With his chin in the palm of his hand, Sugawara Koushi stared out of the window, admiring the last moments of summer before fall kicked in. Being in a junior high school surrounded by mountains, the endless stretch of trees was truly a sight to take in. It was a stark contrast from the blocks of glass and concrete in Tokyo. The green leaves of the trees would slowly fall with the wind and only a ghost of the summer breeze would be left. The chatter of his classmates filled the air. Suga was overwhelmed by the influx of cacophony. Plugging in his trusted white earbuds, he played his favourite playlist on high volume, muting out all the noise surrounding him.

It was no wonder no one had talked to him or tried to befriend him. Transferring in the second semester of his final year of junior high school, he doubted it would be easy to find new friends. And not with his indifferent personality anyway. He had become reticent. He had developed a new perspective on people, always overthinking before engaging with someone. But he wasn’t like this before. Suga used to have loads of friends, until he lost them. Who needs friends anyway? They all wanted something from him and when he was in trouble, none of them would help. Even through all his so-called self comforting, he really was only throwing himself a pity party. Of course he wanted friends, but he was just afraid. Afraid if the same thing happened all over again. Fear of being hurt had swallowed him whole. He wondered where it all went wrong. If only, maybe if only he hadn’t lent a hand that day.

*

“Stop it!”

Suga couldn’t take it anymore. How could he just turn his cheek away when injustice was happening right in front of him? His fingers balled into fists beside him. He was trembling, for what he did was truly terrifying. He must have lost a few screws to stand up.

“You’ve sure got balls, eh?” If before no one paid attention to him, now everyone’s eyes were trained on him, watching for his next movement. “What you’re doing is clearly wrong,” Suga stood firm to his ground.

One of the bullies, a senior with badly bleached hair sauntered towards him. Suddenly, all of Suga’s courage from before dissipated away. Suga stood frozen from where he sat in class, quivering with fear. His heart hammered in his chest and his stomach felt like regurgitating everything he had eaten for lunch. His feet swayed beneath him as the floor slowly faded into thin air. Suga prayed hard to anyone who would hear his pleas to save him from himself. Anyone, please.

The bully was only a tad bit shorter than Suga, but staring right into Suga’s soul, he seemed larger with all the terror he carried.

“Oi Yaku, this your friend?” The bully turned to his victim, a brown-haired boy of small stature, one of Suga’s classmates. Yaku was kneeling on the ground, the back of his collar held by another bully. The timid boy, drenched in water from god knows where, nodded nervously, his eyes glued to the floor. He must have been in a pinch, for his answer would determine not only his, but Suga’s fate.

The senior inched his face closer towards Suga’s, his breath had a faint scent of cigarettes. Despite his churning insides, Suga stared back into the face of the bully. From the corner of his eye, he couldn’t help but notice the look on his classmates. Why? Why did they have their heads hung low like that? Why weren’t they saying anything? Just why? Instead, it felt like they did not appreciate his actions and he had disturbed some sort of unspoken peace.

Before Suga could decipher anything, a fist came flying to his face. “Well I guess you don’t mind replacing him then.”

*

“I’m really sorry!” Yaku held Suga's hand in his palms, apologizing profusely. Tears streamed endlessly from his closed eyes, leaving a trail of dried tears staining his cheeks.

“It’s okay,” Suga could only give him a weak smile. He proceeded to open his locker. Both of them stared at the mess that was Suga’s locker in front of them. What used to be neatly arranged books was now a mishmash of torn papers and trash, with a banana peel nicely placed topping everything off. The word ‘bastard’ was written on the side of his locker. “If only I hadn’t said you were my friend that day, Maybe you would have been spared,” Yaku let go of his hand to wipe at his tears. “Now I involved you.” A sob escaped his lips.

There was a nagging feeling telling Suga that what Yaku meant was, no, it’s your fault. If only you hadn’t butted in and if you closed your eyes like the rest of our classmates, then this wouldn’t have happened to you. Then maybe you could still be happy, even with guilt haunting you.

Seeing how Yaku was still here by his side, Suga brushed off the unpleasant thought. “I don’t regret my choice. If I hadn’t stood up, I think I would regret that more.” he clarified. Suga had to strengthen this belief, if not, all his actions would have been just for naught. He gave him a reassuring smile as he sucked in the tears beginning to pool in his eyes. If Yaku couldn’t be strong, then he has to be strong for him. “The least we could do for now is help each other out,” Suga began picking out the trash from his locker, followed by Yaku. “After all, we’ve endured this much.”

Does he resent Yaku? Of course not, Suga thought, he’s a victim too. Maybe it was true that it was because of his own foolishness, stupidity in the name of justice that brought misfortune upon himself. Flashes of his classmates came flooding his mind. Why didn’t they stand up with him? If the whole class came together, then maybe the seniors would be punished and the bullying would stop.

Suga persevered through everything. Sometimes, his gym clothes would go missing, or he had to play errand boy and rush to the cafeteria to get the melon bread that sold out at lightning speed. Sometimes Yaku would help him buy them in time. Or maybe he just had to lie down and be a punching bag, receiving kicks and punches on his body, for if they were anywhere else, then it would have been too obvious.

It was evident that an invisible barrier had appeared between him and his classmates, for no one wanted to be involved with a bully victim. Everyone was afraid that they would become one themselves. The friends that once laughed with Suga now whispered behind his back. The only companion that he had was his loyal earphones and mp3 player that never failed to give him comfort. It was fine, Suga still had Yaku, even if he only helped discreetly. Suga understood, it was his idea after all, he didn’t want Yaku to be bullied again. Through the background noise of his playlist, Suga could only hear his classmates’ obnoxious laughs as they joked along with Yaku. How shameless, Suga thought. How could they just act as if nothing happened? They were ignoring him just a few weeks ago but now they’re suddenly best friends? Those fucking hypocrites. His face didn’t show it but Yaku must have thought the same thing too.

Suga skipped a few days of school when his injuries became worse. He was born with a frail body after all. It was amazing how he had endured all that he’s been through.

“Hello,” he spoke into the phone to an unknown caller.

“Hi Suga, it’s me Yaku,”

“Oh hi, are you alright Yaku?” Concern was evidently heard in Suga’s voice. Yaku’s sudden call worried Suga. Had anything gone wrong while he was absent?

“I’m fine. Are you okay Suga?”

“Yeah I’m fine too, my injuries aren’t that bad and they’re healing so it’s alright," Suga was lying if he said it didn’t hurt. There was a sigh of relief from the other side of the phone. 

“I actually called to tell you something,” Yaku hesitated before continuing. “I’m going to transfer schools next week.” A long moment of silence followed after.

“Oh okay. That’s good, that’s really good for you,” Suga broke the unbearable silence.

What about me? A brief thought flashed through Suga’s mind. Yaku must have thought that too during the silence.

“Good luck on the transfer. I hope you do well in your new school,” Suga laughed, hiding all the mixed feelings in his heart. He hoped it didn’t sound too off-putting. His congratulations was sincerely from the bottom of his heart.

“I just want to say thank you Suga, and goodluck to you too,” A silent ‘I’m sorry’ was left unspoken. And with that, they ended the call.

It was better left that way. A sorry would only make both sides feel bad. Suga thought of what he was going to do next. Now with Yaku gone, no one would be there for him at school. Maybe he should just give up and start a new leaf. He could go live with his grandmother in the countryside near the mountains. He did spend some time there when he was younger. Why prolong the suffering when there’s an easy way out?

*

Suga was snapped out of his lament when he felt a tear tease at his eyes. Not now, he was not going to have a breakdown over his own sob-story at the back of the classroom. Not when all his classmates could notice him at any moment. Suga fumbled under his desk for his packet of tissues, one that he would always bring wherever. As his hand delved deeper into the crevice, instead, he felt something taped to the underside of the desk, an envelope? Suga peeled off at the tape and peeked at the item from under his desk. It turned out to be a brown envelope with average thickness. A small _hello_ was scribbled on the bottom right corner of the letter. _The heck?_ , Suga thought. He flipped the letter but there wasn’t any name or address, so he wasn’t sure what to do with it. He hesitated for a bit before opening the letter. It wouldn’t hurt to take a peek right?, since there were no details provided.

_Hello!  
Welcome to our school.  
This letter was written to introduce you to this place._

Three pieces of paper were encased within the mysterious letter. Neat handwriting was scribbled on top of the paper. Suga wondered whether the sender was a boy or girl.

_First of all, this is the map of the main building where our classroom is. (a small arrow pointed towards Suga’s classroom on the second floor)  
Take route one for the library, two for P.E class and three if you’re going back home or to the cafeteria. These are the shortcuts. If you’re ever late for school, there’s a secret passageway on the right of the nurse’s office. It’s close to the principal's office so be careful._

Below the writing was a simple drawing of the school building, with labels of the classrooms and offices, and also an arrow pointing towards Suga’s current location, his classroom. The drawing wasn’t complex enough that it would be difficult to understand but it wasn’t simple either. The sender must have put a lot of effort into writing the letter. They even included tips on getting around school. Along with the map of the school, the second piece of paper contained doodles of multiple people arranged in squares.

_Secondly, these are the names and faces of all the students in our class._

_Nobuyuki Kai_ , read the first name on the top left corner of the paper. Below his name was a doodle of a boy with a buzzcut. Suga’s eyes scanned the classroom, landing on the sight of a buzzcut in the left front of the class. A small chuckle escaped his lips. The drawing looked nothing like him. Suga took his time comparing everyone to the sender’s drawings of them, giggling to himself at how the sender probably sucked in art class as he was terrible at drawing faces, but they weren’t so bad because there was still an uncanny resemblance to them. If his classmates ever saw these, Suga thought they would be offended. On the last piece of paper the sender wrote random information about the teachers, or more precisely, gossip.

_Sometimes, the math teacher snores during self-study time. There’s even a mixtape that the class president made from the recordings of him talking in his sleep._

_The literature teacher and the nurse are twins. They both graduated from here. Kids say that the nurse is scarier, but I personally think it’s the other way round. Maybe because she’s a fan of mine. (This prompted a scoff from Suga that caused a few heads to turn his way)._

_The ethics teacher hates both bugs and pesticides, so she keeps an insect-eating plant. Oh, and by keeping, I mean she carries it around with her._

_The social studies teacher often asks ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. The answer is usually no. Hopes this helps you!_

On a final note, the sender wrote

_P.S.  
If you want to read more, you’ll have to find my second letter. You can find the second letter at 9407.20T15._

Suga flipped the letter to see if there was anything left out, but there wasn’t. The back of the letter had a large number 1 written on it, meaning that this was only the first letter and there was possibly more. He was baffled by the contents of the letter. The sender even included the mixtape of the math teacher’s sleep-talk. Nonetheless, they were undoubtedly intriguing. He was determined to find out who this mysterious sender was. He thought of what the code could mean. Could it be some sort of coordinate? But they seemed too short to indicate any location. He thought hard. It must be somewhere around the school right? That was when a lightbulb immediately lit in his head. Of course, it had to be the library. That was the only logical place that would use numbers and letters to keep track of books.

During break, Suga immediately made a beeline for the library. As he walked through the isles, his eyes scanned wildly reading the codes written on the bookshelves. 9407, 9407, Suga muttered under his breath as he searched. Finally, he stopped at the fifth isle. Nestled between the pages of a book with the code 9407.20T15 on the third shelf, sat a letter with a large number 2 written on the back. Suga opened the letter at once, reading the neat handwriting scribbled on the once pristine sheet of paper.

_Thanks for finding my second letter. I’ve written down some of my favourite books, a list of recommended books from the literature teacher, and the location of the third letter. I don’t know about you, but do you believe in aliens? This book is about aliens. Pretty interesting right? I’ve always marveled at the idea of the existence of extraterrestrial life besides humans. Gosh, I sound like a nerd now._

Suga chuckled softly. _Stupid, I don’t think they exist._ Suga flipped the pages towards the back, where a list of the names of borrowers were kept. There was only one person who had ever borrowed the book, and his name was Oikawa Tooru. Oikawa Tooru, was that the name of the sender?

*

Suga left the library with the second letter and a book checked under his name. He went straight back to his classroom, where he checked back the list of his classmates' names and faces given by the sender. Unfortunately, there was no Oikawa Tooru in his class. He was probably in a different class, Suga thought, or maybe even in a different grade. He brushed off finding Oikawa Tooru, he wasn’t even sure if he was the one sending them. His first priority should be searching for the letters. That way, they would probably lead him to the sender anyhow. Suga read the second letter again.

_You can find my third letter in the school gymnasium. The volleyball club uses this place for their practice, so you need to be there before 3 pm. The letter is on the second floor, hidden in a crack between the walls. The password is 0427, the date when the volleyball club was first founded._

During lunch, Suga immediately rushed for the school gymnasium, located at the very back of the school. Lucky for him, the lock was a passcode lock, and not the lock and key type, although he thought that keys would be the safer option. The passcode was just as the sender had given him. Suga entered the dark gymnasium, his hands started fumbling against the walls for the nearest light switch. He flicked the first switch and the lights flickered on, illuminating a large nicely-kept volleyball gymnasium. The floors were shiny and the gym was even bigger than the one at Suga’s old school, the perks of being a powerhouse school. Volleyball club, huh. Suga used to be in his old school’s volleyball club, playing as a setter, but then he quit after the incident. His skills weren’t so bad either. He hadn’t thought of joining a club at this new school, since he transferred in the last semester. He would just live his life quietly and graduate junior high peacefully.

Suga made his way to the second floor where he had a better view of the court below. Oh how he missed playing volleyball, but he had already made up his mind. He thought of how a letter hidden between a crack would be left unnoticed, but apparently the second floor wasn’t as nicely kept as the court below. The volleyball club surely had to do something about that. He finally found the third letter between a crack in the wall at the end of the second floor. Suga returned to class feeling fulfilled after finding the third letter.

*

_These are the names and faces of people working in this school._

The sender included a paper with doodles of the staff and their names just like he had done for the classmates in the first letter. Mr. Sato Hiroto, the housemaster, Mr. Takahashi Kenji, the cafeteria worker, Mrs. Nakamura Yui, the janitor + witch. Suga had to do a double-take at the janitor + witch.

_I was particularly close with Mrs. Nakamura. She loves drinking floral tea, so her office smelled nice like flowers whenever I walked in there. Her favourite tea is the calendula daisies. Let me also introduce you to a ‘helper’ outside the school._

And by ‘helper’, the sender meant someone who could satisfy student’s cravings for food which isn’t provided by the school. A business card of a Japanese cuisine restaurant was attached with the letter. The sender even drew what looked like a rendezvous point, somewhere between the tall wall of bushes near the east gate of the school.

_If you get it delivered at this point at 12.25 pm, you can eat your ramen on the rooftop before they get soggy. My recommended dishes are katsudon and chuka idako onigiri. I wonder if you’ll like them._

A rumbling sound came from Suga’s stomach at the mention of food. _I wonder if you’ll like them…_ This sentence made him wonder more what the sender is like. He wondered whether he was as sweet as he was in the letters. He decided to order delivery from the restaurant.

*

Stars twinkled in Suga’s eyes at the sight of the food in front of him. Currently, he was crouching on all fours between the bushes at the rendezvous point near the east gate. Wrapped chuka idako onigiri, seasoned salmon onigiri, onigirazu. All induced some type of hunger in Suga that he hadn't felt before. _Oh how all of those flavors would simply melt in his mouth…_

“Next time, can you all please order together at once? ‘Cause we’ll be in big trouble if the principal ever finds out,” the delivery guy crouched in front of Suga snapped him out of his reverie. Suga managed to suck in the drool that was about to escape his lips. “Sorry?” he asked, confusion evident on his face.

“Then enjoy! Oh, and when you’re finished, just leave the empty plates here! I’ll pick them up later!” Ignoring Suga’s perplexed expression, the delivery guy backed away and got up quickly. He must have been a busy guy, delivering orders all day.

Had somebody ordered before him? Suga thought. Just how many students knew about the delivery restaurant in school? Could it be that the person who wrote the letter had ordered before him? Taking all of his food, Suga headed straight for the rooftop where the person had recommended it as a nice place to eat.

Slowly climbing the steps, his heartbeat fastened at the thought of the sender probably waiting there for him. It was just his imagination, but it was also a possibility. His heart pounded wildly, threatening to plummet right out of his chest. Nervousness took over as he peeked past the door towards a boy sitting at the end of the rooftop facing the rest of the schoolyard below. The boy had dark, spiked-up hair. He only had a view of his back but Suga could see that he had broad shoulders, well-built arms and a muscular frame. He had red earphones plugged into his ears as he enjoyed his meal of unadon.

The boy must have eyes on the back of his head as his head turned suddenly. Suga would have been nearly caught if it wasn’t for quick reflexes that caused him to hide behind the door. Suga didn’t know why he hid, it was not like he had done anything wrong.

“Is someone there?” the boy called out. Suga flinched as his body tensed behind the door. What was he scared of anyway? Although he was hidden away from the boy’s view, he could still peek from the holes between the hinges where he caught a glimpse of the boy’s face. The boy had olive-green eyes and slightly thicker than average eyebrows. He wore a serious or irked expression that intimidated anyone who saw him. This couldn’t be the one sending him the letters, right? Suga imagined someone of a more sweet demeanor.

Suga’s shoulders relaxed when the boy brushed off everything and continued to eat his meal. He sat behind the other door more comfortably and decided to indulge in his meal too. As he enjoyed the different flavors of onigiri he had ordered, the boy had finished his meal. Cautiously, Suga peeked to see if the boy was about to return to class. Instead, he picked up a volleyball placed near the corner of the rooftop and began bumping the ball by himself. Suga was mesmerized by his receiving skills, but when the ball accidentally bumped him in the face, the boy released a godzilla-like shriek startling Suga. He quickly turned away his face to save himself from second-hand embarrassment, even if the other boy hadn’t realized someone was watching him. He felt bad for laughing a little. Suga made sure to return to class before the other boy had finished practicing.

Back in class, Suga thought of the possibility that the boy was the one who wrote all the letters. He had imagined the sender to be someone with a bright and sweet personality, not someone who looked like he was ready to kill anyone on sight. It couldn’t have been him, all the letters were in secluded areas. What if he was playing a joke on him? Suga read the third letter again and read the sentence written at the bottom.

_You can find the fourth letter at the flower garden if you ask for help._

Yeah, he should look for the other letters first.

“Hey, new kid! The homeroom teacher wants a word with you in the staff room!” Suga was snapped out of his thoughts by a fellow classmate with short brown hair.

“Oh okay,”

“I’ll let the next period teacher know. You want me to take you there?” his classmate proposes.

Not wanting to trouble his classmate, Suga politely declines. “Ah… no, that’s okay. I know where it is.”

“Oh yeah?” unconvinced, the classmate offers once again.

“Yeah, it’s alright Daichi. Thanks anyway,” Suga quickly makes his way towards the staff room, hoping he could make a detour towards the flower garden after meeting with the teacher.

His classmate is left baffled by Suga’s actions. “Wait a minute,” the classmate whispers to himself as he stares at Suga’s shrinking back. “How does he know my name?”

*

Suga entered the garden after his short meeting with the teacher. They discussed a few matters regarding his transfer and documents he had to fill. Suga stared at the abundance of flowers in front of him. The garden, located inside a greenhouse just west of the school building, enabled it to grow all sorts of flowers that Suga only saw in photographs or movies. There were chrysanthemums, butterfly peas, roses. Some Suga could recognize but most, he didn’t. Back when he was in Tokyo, he lived in a condominium and his parents weren’t really fans of gardening. One flower that stood in particular to him was the calendula daisies, the one the sender had mentioned in one of their letters. The afternoon sun reflected through glass panels, surrounding the garden in an orange glow. Being in the garden made him feel like he had stepped into a fairytale, surrounded by all the vibrant colours and wonderful scents of flowers. He could stay forever, but he sighed when he remembered his purpose. The garden was huge, how was he going to find a letter here? It could be hidden anywhere.

Suga started by searching the flower beds, careful as to not ruin any of the flowers. 30 minutes into his search, Suga was startled by a rustling sound coming from a nearby bush. His hand pushed through the leaves, revealing a pristine white cat facing him. The cat mewed loudly before swatting a paw at Suga. A second late and a claw mark would have besmirched Suga’s beautiful face.

“Are you stuck?” Suga asked the cat after noticing that the cat, a bit large for its size, was wriggling between two branches. Seeming to understand him, the cat meowed back. Suga took that as a yes.

Although the cat had tried to injure him before, Suga felt pity for its helpless state between the branches. He grabbed hold of the two front paws and started tugging lightly, but to no avail.

“Hold on, w-wait, hold a sec!” the cat started meowing and flailing its paws frantically as Suga attempted to pull on the branches wide enough so that the cat could escape through. With a final tug, the cat managed to jump away as a small twig snapped back and flicked him in the forehead, leaving a red mark. “Ouch,” Suga fell backwards and started rubbing his forehead where it hurt.

“Akemi, were you stuck in that tree again?” A voice called out. The cat meowed feebly as if it was being scolded. Suga turned to face the source of the warm voice.

“You must’ve helped him. Thank you,” The elderly woman, probably in her sixties, smiled kindly at Suga. She had a warm vibe surrounding her, giving the impression that she really is good-hearted and caring. _Ah,_ Suga remembered the doodles of the staff from the third letter. “Mrs. Nakamura?”

A brief expression of surprise appeared before being replaced with a nice warm smile accompanied by lovely wrinkled eyes.

*

“Here you go,” Mrs. Nakamura pushed a letter with a large number 4 written on the back across the wooden table. They were seated face-to-face in a small wooden shed built at the back of the garden. The shed served to house gardening supplies, but there was enough room for Mrs. Nakamura to make a small office out of it. The office window had a view of the school building and people passing through the corridors. The cozy feeling emanating from the wooden office enhanced the fairytale-like features of the garden. Suga wouldn’t mind getting lost in time here.

“I was asked to give that letter when a student who knows my name came to the garden.” Mrs. Nakamura patted Akemi who was purring softly in her lap. She looked like a small cloud of fluffy cotton candy.

“Nobody ever calls me by my name,” Suga remembered the third letter where she was labelled as the ‘janitor + witch’. Could that be it? The other kids must have called her a witch. He wondered how anyone could have thought of giving such a horrible name to a kind old lady.

“Well, he was an odd kid, that one,” Mrs. Nakamura continued. “You must be curious. Go on, open it. Don’t mind me,” she tilted her head towards the letter on the table.

“Ah yes!” Suga straightened his back, remembering his purpose of coming to the garden in the first place. “Oh, and please call me Koushi!” he picked the letter up and with delicate fingers, he carefully opened it. A piece of paper and a small pouch of dried flowers were encased within the envelope, and on the paper was written a long list of scientific names that Suga identified as jargon. The flowers were wrapped in muslin cloth, showcasing the remnants of its once bright purple flowers and releasing a fragrant smell.

“What do you think this means?” Suga asked Mrs. Nakamura for her opinion. There must have been a reason why the sender wanted the letter to be in her possession. He held the small pouch of dried flowers in his hands, inspecting the purple colours and the fragrant smell of it before setting it back down on the table.

“Let me see,” Mrs. Nakamura slipped a hand in her front pocket, revealing a pair of reading glasses as she picked up the piece of paper. “These are the names of all the different flowers in my garden. He was always so good with names,” a soft chuckle escaped her lips. “And this…’’ there was a brief pause as she picked up the tiny pouch. “These are dried flowers. Flowers he grew himself. They are very difficult to grow, but they have an exceptionally deep fragrance, once you manage to grow them and make them into tea.” The warm smile spread once again across her lips. “He must have wanted you to taste it.”

A soft tinge of pink started to spread slowly across Suga’s cheeks. There was a lot to take in from what Mrs. Nakamura had said. Flowers that the person had grown themselves, and they wanted him to taste the tea made from it. But why? Why Suga? Was it just random luck that he was the student who moved into the seat that the sender had placed the letter? But why would anyone want to do something like this? Suga just couldn’t grasp the reason. It enthralled him on going on this small treasure hunt to find the sender right now. All he needed to do was find every letter.

“Wait here, let me make you one right now,” Mrs. Nakamura stood up to boil some water at the back. She placed the dried flower petals in a lovely silver porcelain teapot with floral patterns, and then she added the hot water once the kettle had started to whistle. After a few minutes, the tea was ready as Suga watched Mrs. Nakamura pour the contents of the teapot into a matching teacup accompanied with a coaster. A few of the flower petals had spilled into the teacup as well, floating around the light brown liquid.

“Try it,” Mrs. Nakamura placed the teacup and coaster in front of a patiently waiting Suga. “And have a biscuit as well,” she placed a plate full of biscuits on the table before taking a seat.

Suga stared into the teacup, admiring how the petals danced in the tea. He took a sip from the cup and before he knew it, a warm feeling had engulfed him and was spreading all over his body through his veins. If he was cold before, he had never realized it until he had tried the tea. His insides melted from the warm liquid traveling down his throat. Suga had enjoyed tea before, but this was by far the most delicious one he had. The tea wasn’t bitter to him at all. It tasted light and fresh, with a slight minty note. The heavily floral scent left a pleasant fragrance lingering around his nose. Suga touched his cheeks, his face had become warm. When was the last time he had ever felt pleasantly relaxed? “It’s lovely,” he smiled to a beaming Mrs. Nakamura.

*

“Is his name…. Oikawa Tooru?” Suga wanted to confirm his suspicions. He had bonded with Mrs. Nakamura over homegrown floral tea and biscuits. His heart thumped against his chest as he waited for her answer.

“That’s right,” Mrs. Nakamura took a sip from her teacup. _Oh,_ Suga didn’t know how to react. Even if he knew his name, This Oikawa Tooru character was still a complete mystery. At least he knew his name now.

“Want me to tell you more about him?” Mrs. Nakamura suggested eagerly, waggling her grey eyebrows. Maybe she was just impatient to see them both to meet and know each other. Suga hesitated for a moment. A part of him was aching to find out more about him, but the other part of him wanted to find out on his own, let it be an adventure for him to embark on. “N-no, it’s okay,” Suga declined politely. He noticed the subtle droop in Mrs. Nakamura’s expression.

“He planned out such a wonderful present for me, and I just transferred here. I want to find the rest of the gifts as he intended.” Suga fiddled with his thumbs, a habit of his when he was feeling anxious.

“Are you sure you don’t even want to know a teeny-bit?” Mrs. Nakamura offered once more, hoping Suga would change his mind.

True, Suga didn’t even have the slightest bit of information about Oikawa, but he had already set his mind. “No, it’s alright. I’ll know when I find him,” Suga turned down her offer once more. Mrs. Nakamura’s mouth curved into a smile. “Suit yourself. Would you like some more tea?”

*

In the fourth letter, Oikawa requested Suga to head towards the small storage building at the back of the school early in the morning. It was located quite near to the volleyball gymnasium, the place where Suga had retrieved the third letter. He was told that the letter would be found underneath a long wooden bench in front of the storage. Suga fumbled underneath the bench for the fifth letter, finally finding it taped to the underside of the bench. He opened the envelope to read the contents.

_On my way to the volleyball club, usually I would stop by here to feed some kitties! They all looked so sad and hungry so I couldn’t help but buy snacks for them. Did you know that cats can lower your stress and anxiety? If you’re ever feeling down, maybe you could come here and play with them!_

Along with the note came a small packet of cat biscuits and a drawing of all the cats that Oikawa must have taken care of. He placed his things on the bench before shaking the packet and with the sound it produced, a clatter of cats came pouncing their way towards Suga. All sorts of different colored cats came, some had grey fur, some were orange and a particular black cat came purring itself against Suga’s legs, begging for food. “Woah,” Suga had to stabilize himself from the amount of cats rubbing at his feet. He opened the packet of biscuits and crouched down, scattering the biscuits onto the floor. In an instant, the cats came like piranhas, nibbling at every piece they could get.

Referring to the note, Suga began to pinpoint each cat to its respective drawing. The note included their names and a short description of their personalities, according to Oikawa.

The cat with the furry black coat was named Iwa-chan, quite an odd name for a cat. Iwa-chan looked intimidating, but he was a softie at heart. Oddly, Iwa-chan somehow reminded him of the boy he had seen at the rooftop. The other black cat, Tetsu, had sleek fur, looking elegant as ever but was clumsy and a goofball. A silver-furred lanky cat had Lev as a name, and somehow it fit his goofy personality perfectly. Tora was fuzzy brown with a streak of yellow just above his head. He was one grumpy cat, but once you managed to get on his good side (a scratch behind his ears), he’d become attached and start clinging on to you for dear life.

All in all, Suga counted there were nine cats in total. However, there were ten in Oikawa’s list. He double-checked and realized that one was missing, a calico named Kyanma, and in the description Oikawa described it as ‘likes to hide in trees even though he’s afraid of heights :’('. Suga thought that Oikawa must have fed it separately so he got up and walked towards the edge of the forest, looking up at the nearest trees to catch sight of a certain multicolored coat. “Meow,” Suga called out multiple times, hoping for a response, only to be fed with utter silence. After a few minutes of unrequited meows, he finally locked eyes with a pair of yellow pupils, perched on a branch of a tree with average height.

Upon finding him, Kyanma started meowing softly, as if asking Suga to save him. Suga sighed exasperatedly, his shoulders drooping low, what was it with him and cats? But he wasn’t one to ignore a poor soul asking for help, let it be cats. He started unbuttoning the collar of his summer uniform, undoing his tie and settling his clothes somewhere safe nearby. Wearing a white t-shirt underneath, he carefully hoisted himself up the tree trunk, inserting his foot into a hollow part of the tree. Kyanma was sitting on the branch unperturbed, watching Suga’s every movement in silence. He sat near the main trunk, so Suga didn’t have to reach far to grab him. The tree wasn’t that difficult to climb, but it was still work. He recalled the last time he had climbed one, and that happened years ago, because someone said it was fun and he just couldn’t refuse. It was fun, maybe because it was an activity done with a friend, but if he was alone, Suga couldn’t see the point of climbing a tree. Yet, now here he was sitting on a tree branch trying to save a cat.

“Gotcha,” Suga held Kyanma in his arms without much resistance, surprisingly, and started making his move downwards. Just as he was about to remove his foot and place it into another position, a voice called down from below, surprising him.

“What are you doing?” the voice called out casually. Suga misplaced his foot, lost his balance and,

_BADUMP!_

Being a cat with nine lives, Kyanma landed perfectly on his padded paws. His fur stood on end from the shock, before scampering off quickly to join the rest of the cats. Surprisingly, Suga’s fall didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. He pushed himself up and dusted dirt off his pants. “Ouch,” the voice that had called out to him earlier had turned croaky as Suga spun around and saw a familiar spiky-haired boy splayed across the ground, his limbs positioned in awkward angles. Suga had used his back as a landing pad. No wonder it didn’t hurt as much, somebody else had absorbed all the pain.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Suga apologized as he stretched out his hand. He hoisted the boy up as the boy started dusting dirt off his tracksuit. “Nah, it’s my fault for startling you,” the boy coughed out, forcing a weak smile. Suga couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He put on his shirt and the both of them walked back to the storage. Sitting back on the bench, Kyanma immediately climbed his way onto Suga’s lap, making himself comfortable, much to both of their surprise. This induced an unspoken jealousy from the spiky-haired boy’s face, which was evident based on his expression. “She usually doesn’t get along with strangers,” the boy lamented as he watched Suga stroke the calico’s soft fur, bringing about a calming purr from the cat as it enjoyed the touch blissfully.

“I guess she just likes me.”

The other boy exhaled from envy at seeing Kyanma’s intimacy with the newly found stranger. On the other hand, he was scratching the area behind Iwa-chan, the black cat’s ears while the other cats had dispersed off to who knows where. “She?” Suga asked in surprise, for all this time he had referred to Kyanma as a male cat. Even Oikawa referred to it as a male cat.

“Yeah, she’s female. It’s rare for calico cats to be male so you can tell from a glance that their female. It’s got something to do with genes,”

“Oh,” Suga was impressed with the boy’s knowledge on cat biology. “That’s interesting.”

They sat there in silence basking in the presence of each other and the cats. “By the way, my name’s Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi Hajime,” the boy introduced himself. Suga had almost forgotten that they didn’t even know each other's name yet. Even after the embarrassing incident that had happened. “I’m Sugawara Koushi, Suga for short, and I’m really sorry for what happened earlier,” feeling guilty, he apologized once again. It must have hurt like hell having someone smackdown on you like that.

“It’s nothing,” Iwaizumi brushed it off. “I told you it’s my fault for startling you like that,”

“Then let me treat you to a meal, to make up for it,”

In an instant, Iwaizumi’s eyes lit up at the idea of a free meal, “Deal, you can’t go back on your word,”

Slightly regretting it, Suga could already feel the money in his wallet fly away.

Somehow, Iwaizumi’s name rang a bell in Suga’s head. It was like he had heard it somewhere, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly from where. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Kyanma, already asleep on his lap, and then at Iwa-chan, who Iwaizumi was playing around with a long blade of grass. That’s it, Suga turned his head away to hide his fit of giggles. Seeing them both in the same picture, he could finally see the semblance between the both of them. The way both of their hair, or fur, spiked at weird angles, and how both of them had intimidating faces.

Unfortunately, his laughter could not be hidden from Iwaizumi’s attentive eyes. “What are you laughing at?” eyes narrowed, he tilted his head at Suga. Suga calmed himself before answering, “nothing, it’s just I realized how similar you and Iwa-chan are alike.”

“Iwa-chan? How do you know his name’s Iwa-chan?” Iwaizumi had his eyes narrowed at Suga, he suddenly felt hostile.

In an instant, Suga could feel something change in the air surrounding them. It felt as if he had touched something that he shouldn’t have, like stepping on a bomb in a minefield. A bead of nervous sweat trickled down Suga’s forehead.

“And where did you get those biscuits?” Iwaizumi’s eyes traced the empty packet of biscuits lying beside Suga’s bag. “Uhh…,” before Suga could even reply properly, Iwaizumi had already answered his own question. “It was Oikawa, wasn’t it?” The friendly atmosphere they had before was now gone, replaced by an uncomfortable one. “I didn’t know he had a friend like you,” Suga didn’t know how to explain their relationship exactly. If he did, it would have been a long story. But a part of him felt relieved at the moment that Iwaizumi was someone who knows Oikawa. “Are you friends with Oikawa?” he asked Iwaizumi instead. After a moment of hesitation, Iwaizumi gave his answer.

“No,”

Suga’s shoulders drooped in disappointment. However, he couldn’t help but notice the brief subtle anger clouding Iwaizumi’s features. “Oh.”

A wave of awkward silence crashed over them as they just sat there, Suga fiddling with his fingers in nervousness. “Sorry,” Iwaizumi apologizes, aware of the tension he just created. _What are you saying? You don’t have anything to be sorry for,_ Suga wants to say, but it doesn’t escape his lips. He just hums in reply. If anyone should be saying sorry, it should be him, he fell on him after all. Sure Iwaizumi looked intimidating at first glance, but after this brief encounter, Suga felt that he wasn’t bad and maybe genuinely good. Something about Oikawa triggered him. Iwaizumi didn’t know what happened between them, or what history they had, it wasn’t his business to pry on, so he didn’t prod on the topic. It would have been a lie to say he wasn’t the least bit curious.

Only realizing that Iwaizumi was wearing a tracksuit and not his school uniform, Suga opened his mouth to ask. Usually sports club members came to school wearing tracksuits for morning practice. “Do you have somewhere to be?”

Iwaizumi glanced at his watch and stood up abruptly. “Crap, I’m late for practice.” he adjusted his bag before dashing off towards the direction of the volleyball gymnasium.

“I guess I’ll see you later!” he yelled out as Suga stared at his retreating back.

*

“But it turns out, he knows my name,” Sawamura Daichi picked up a sushi roll using his chopsticks before putting it in his mouth. “And to think, I’ve been calling him new kid.”

“That must have been embarrassing,” Shimizu Kiyoko commented before taking a bite into her melon bread. “We only have to learn the new kid’s name, but he needs to memorize the names of everyone in the class.”

“That’s true,”

“Is it a hard name to remember?”

“Sugawara Koushi,”

“Eeehhh~ that sounds pretty simple to me!” Azumane Asahi commented. 

“He hasn’t been here very long so he couldn’t have learned everybody’s name already, right?” A cough escaped Daichi’s lips. “And yet he seems to know where everything is too,” On a nice afternoon, the three friends enjoyed their meals under the shade of a large tree in the outdoor garden.

“That means he had help from somebody,” Kiyoko butted in.

From a distance, they watched as Sugawara strolled by carrying a bento he brought from home. Speak of the devil.

“Sugawara!” Daichi called out to him, causing him to turn his head towards the trio.

“Ah, hello,” his head dipped slightly as he greeted. Daichi, Asahi and Kiyoko bowed in response.

“Haven’t seen you around here! If you are here to eat your lunch, come join us!” Daichi invited him.

Flustered, Suga asked again for permission. “Would that be okay?” Daichi was his classmate, but he did not recognize the other two, a long-haired girl and a boy with wavy hair, they were probably in a different class.

“You guys don’t mind right?” Daichi asked the other two. They both nodded their heads eagerly in response. Suga stepped closer towards them, sitting crossed-leg between Daichi and Asahi while in front of Kiyoko. He made sure to keep his distance so that they would be comfortable.

“How did you find out about this place?” Daichi started the conversation between them. The spot that they were at wasn’t really that noticeable to the passing eye, as people tended to overlook it, compared to the rest of the vast outdoor garden.

“Somebody told me it was… a good place to read,” To be honest, it was Oikawa who had recommended this spot to him, but he wasn’t about to tell them that.

“Yeah, that’s true, and it’s also a good place for lunch,” Asahi added shyly.

“These are my friends from class 2,” Daichi started introducing the two other students. “This is Azumane Asahi,” he gestured towards the boy with dark brown hair. He waved his hand timidly. “And this is Shimizu Kiyoko,” Daichi pointed towards the girl wearing glasses. Anyone could tell she was unbelievably beautiful. Like Suga, she had a beauty mark but at a different place, a mole at the lower left side of her chin. “Hello,” she bowed her head. Suga bowed too in response. “I’m Sugawara Koushi, Suga for short, Daichi’s classmate.”

“Anyway, I didn’t know there was someone else in our class that packed lunches.”

Suga began to open his bento box.

“I’m a little weak, so I have to follow a strict diet.” Suga clarified. “How about you guys?”

“I bring leftovers from home. My family runs a side dish store,” Kiyoko explained.

“I just bring whatever my mom prepares,” Asahi declared before taking a bite from his rice ball.

“I’m part of the school volleyball team, so I’m also on a meal plan,” said Daichi. “If we wanna make it to nationals, we need to start preparing for it now.”

“Asahi’s also in the volleyball club while Kiyoko’s our manager,” Daichi added, Asahi feeling shy after being mentioned.

“It’s volleyball and baseball clubs from our school that go to nationals right?” Kiyoko asks. Suga just listens on as he finds the conversation interesting.

“Yeah, but I think we’re at a disadvantage though this time,” Asahi laments as he holds his chin in his hand.

“True, Oikawa’s not here this year,” even Kiyoko seems to feel down. Suga’s ears perk up at the mention of the name. “Oikawa?” he says, catching the attention of the other three.

“Yeah, he was the star setter of the volleyball club,” Daichi explains. “C’mon, don’t feel so down guys, we still have Iwaizumi. And you too Asahi, We’re a formidable team!,”

“This is all because Oikawa transferred to a different school,” Asahi mutters quietly.

 _Transferred?_ Oikawa transferred, so that’s what happened. A bucket of cold water had splashed into Suga’s face. There was no way he would be able to meet Oikawa. The seat he took when he first came here was probably Oikawa’s seat before he transferred. But the glimmer of hope burning in Suga’s heart hadn’t died yet. There were still letters from Oikawa for him to find. The letters served a purpose to lead Suga to Oikawa. And when they would meet, Suga just wanted to say thank you.

*

_You can find the next letter when you walk five steps forward, seven steps to the right, and then nine steps forward from the door of the storage building with your eyes closed._

Suga raised an eyebrow at the peculiar instructions, his head tilting towards the side. Looking ahead of him, all he saw were clusters of trees stretching towards the mountain. Where was Oikawa trying to lead him to? There was only one way to find out. Suga took a deep breath before taking five steps forward. “Seven steps to the right,” he whispered towards himself. “And then nine steps forward.”

Suga found himself only a few metres away from the storage building. There was nothing around him that indicated a letter would be hidden somewhere. Were his steps too big? Or too small? Suga must be overthinking it. He took out the letter from his pocket and reread the instructions multiple times. He was sure that he had counted each step correctly. He couldn’t pin down exactly what he did wrong. As he scanned the handwriting, his eyes finally zeroed on the last few words.

_With your eyes closed._

If his eyes were closed, how would he see where he was going? But that was it, Suga realized. He couldn’t walk properly because he was looking too hard. Suga shaked away all his doubts. He was going to let go and trust Oikawa’s words. Starting back from the storage door, Suga closed his eyes shut and started counting as he moved. “Five steps forward, seven steps to the right, and then nine steps forward- Oof,’’ Suga bumped into something sturdy. Probably the wall of the place he was headed towards. He fluttered his eyes open, but it wasn’t a wall standing right in front of him. Instead, he had bumped into the broad back of a teenage boy his age.

When he looked up, a familiar face was peering right at him. “S-Suga?” Iwaizumi stuttered.  
“H-how did you…”

*

_One year earlier_

”Iwaizumi!”

Iwaizumi flinched as an arm settled itself around his neck while the other hand grabbed one of the earphones plugged in his right ear. His teeth clenched. He hated when people interrupted him abruptly.

“Man, you’re gonna go deaf! Your volume’s too loud!” The boy uninvitedly took the spare earphone and plugged it into his ear briefly, before taking it out.

“How about we go over to your place? I haven’t seen Haru-chan in a while.”

Iwaizumi really didn’t want to be disturbed at this moment. “My uncle’s home,” he answered curtly while continuing his science homework. He paid no heed to whatever the other boy had to say.

“That’s not a problem. I like your uncle. He cracks me up! Haha!”

Unfortunately, his cold and indifferent behaviour wasn’t enough for the other boy to take a hint that Iwaizumi was too busy to be bothered.

“Did you hear the amazing drum solo on this track?” the boy continued rambling on mindlessly, not even noticing whether Iwaizumi was paying attention or not, his loud, raucous voice ringing in Iwaizumi’s ears.

“Uh-huh.”

Iwaizumi’s mind was elsewhere, but he made sure to give satisfying answers to the boy so as to not arouse suspicion. Sometimes he nodded at the boy’s remark, not even knowing what he was agreeing with. When the boy laughed, Iwaizumi laughed along. When he was angry about something, he made sure to display the same emotion too.

Iwaizumi had always turned up the volume high. So high that it drowned all the noise in the background. But it wasn’t enough that he could still hear what they were saying behind his back. Iwaizumi just couldn’t remember when did he start turning the volume up all the way just so he couldn’t hear them.

*

“You called?”

After school that evening, Iwaizumi entered the old tool shed inside the greenhouse, right near the back. Still wearing gloves, he carried a box full of firewood, meant to be burnt during their upcoming camp. Being part of the camp committee was hard work.

“Hey Iwaizumi!” A boy greeted him, the same one who disturbed Iwaizumi while he was doing his homework earlier. He was Terushima Yuuji, to be precise, Iwaizumi’s fellow classmate. He sported an undercut with spiky blonde hair, a tiny tuft of hair falling over his forehead. Terishima donned black studs on both ears and a silver one right in the middle of his tongue. He had too many piercings Iwaizumi could count. Surrounding him inside the cramped space of the tool shed was his clique, mindless fools with supercilious personalities who spend their time loitering and smoking around school. Some were standing while leaning against the wall, smoking as the ungodly scent wafted through the air, while others sat or squatted on the ground. And in the middle of them, Terushima sat on a chair, their leader.

“I’m busy, so I don’t think I can make it to the camp preparation committee today. Tell them I can’t make it, okay?” Terushima’s left thumb flicked the lighter while his right hand held a piece of paper over the flame. A picture of a family. On his lap was a wallet. It doesn't take a genius to know that the wallet didn’t belong to him.

Iwaizumi scrunched his nose in disgust at the sight in front of him. Deep down, he really wanted to refuse, but his desire would not voice out.

“...okay,” the words that came out of his mouth instead were heavy and reluctant.

“Oh, and if my mom calls, tell her that I’m staying over at your house. She may not believe me, but she sure as hell believes you,” Terushima added, causing Iwaizumi to knit his eyebrows together. He glanced over in Iwaizumi’s direction, noticing the slight turn of his head. This time, no answer came from Iwaizumi. Silence continued to envelope the space between them.

“What’s wrong?” the piece of paper in Terushima’s hand dropped. He was now fully facing Iwaizumi, eyeing him like a snake would its prey. “Don’t wanna do it?”

Iwaizumi’s answer finally drawled out. “...I don’t wanna lie to your mother.”

Throwing his lighter at the wall, Terushima yelled. “Ah, for fuck’s sake! I’m her son, not you!” He picked the piece of paper back up as one of his followers handed him another lighter, lit it on a fire and threw it into the pile of paper in the middle of the shed, creating a small bonfire. The fire crackled through the shed as a thin line of smoke began to rise.

“...okay,” seeing Terushima’s rise in temper, Iwaizumi once again reluctantly agreed as a wave of guilt swamped through him. “Is that it? You could’ve just called,” Iwaizumi gritted out as he was eager to leave.

“What’s wrong with you? You sound so heartless.” As easy as his temper rose, Terushima easily calmed down from his high. How simple for kids like him who seemed to think that the whole world dangled from their fingers. “Hey, you wanna join us? I can introduce you around.” He sounded so pathetic to Iwaizumi’s ears, and yet, here he was still standing.

Iwaizumi turned away, ready to leave them in their filth. He couldn’t exactly call them that, he knew that he was just the same. Just a different variant. “...No thanks, I’m heading out now,” Iwaizumi said as his cue to take leave.

“Bye!” Terushima called out as he added another piece of paper to the flame. Iwaizumi walked towards the front doors of the greenhouse, admiring the flowers along the way. On his way out, he bumped into Mrs. Nakamura, the box of firewood obscuring his vision. “Oof- sorry, oh hello Mrs. Nakamura,” he greeted.

“Oh, Iwaizumi!” Mrs. Nakamura greeted back cheerfully. “Thanks for helping me move the firewood. The campfire business isn’t so easy, is it?”

A nervous bead of sweat made its way down the side of Iwaizumi’s face. “Yeah… I’m part of the camp preparation committee, so just let me know when you need any help.” Instinctively, Iwaizumi moved so that his body was directly in front of Mrs. Nakamura, obscuring her vision from the toolshed behind. He glanced his eyes slightly back, his voice a bit louder than usual so that the people in the shed could hear him. Seeming to take the hint, he could hear the faint rustle of footsteps as they tried to make their safe escape through the back exit. Thankfully, Mrs. Nakamura still seemed to remain oblivious. “Aww, thank you. Aren't you just so excited for summer camp? I’ll see you then,” she proceeded to move her way around Iwaizumi before Iwaizumi jumped back in front of her. 

“Um… wait!” The box of firewood in his hands was getting heavier by the minute. Mrs. Nakamura turned to face him, paying full attention. “Uhh… I think someone was looking for you outside.”

“Really? I’ll have to go and see who it is then,” Mrs. Nakamura turned on her heel and went outside. Iwaizumi punched himself internally multiple times. Here he was, lying again. He thought he was different from those kids and tried to distance himself as far as he could, but they were indeed truly the same. How foolish of him.

*

“I don’t give a shit about that stupid camp!” the clang of shoe meeting metal resonated across the empty walkway. “I’m not part of the committee anymore. Go find someone else.” Terushima picked up the soda can from the vending machine. “I think that old hag ratted us out about smoking. They even called my parents over for a meeting.” he pulled the tab of the soda can, muttering a soft ‘fuck’ before taking a sip of his drink. Iwaizumi could only stand by and watch quietly as Terushima vented, unable to give a response.

During the night of the camp, the students were startled by the loud crackle of fire burning as black smoke rose up through the air, camouflaging with the darkness of the night. Students awoke from their slumber scrambled out of their tents to see the commotion going on outside as a voice from a megaphone blared in an attempt to calm them.

“There is a fire in the greenhouse garden! All students please exit the camp in an orderly fashion! Please do not panic. Everyone walk out to the main gate. I repeat, there is a fire in the school premises. All students please exit the camp in an orderly fashion!”

Fortunately, the camp site which was just a large empty field was a good distance from the greenhouse. Along with the other students, Iwaizumi scrambled out of his tent to join the others forming lines in front of the main gate. He glanced a look at the source of the smoke, thinking about how all those beautiful flowers would just go up in flames. Who knew that would be the last time he would see them. As he made his jog towards the assembly site, deep down, something told his conscience that this didn’t feel right, there was no way the fire could be an accident. He hesitated for a moment, before finally making a dash for the greenhouse amidst the chaos.

In his heart, he prayed that it was just merely a suspicion, but when he arrived, alas, his gut dropped. There, standing right in front of the greenhouse stood Terushima and his clique, with no doubt a lighter in his hand.

Grabbing the front of his shirt, Iwaizumi confronted Terushima. “Teru! Did you do this?” he asked even though he had already known the answer. Terushima snickered, staring straight into Iwaizumi’s eyes, his eyes gleaming amber with the flame.

“Even that old hag smokes outside. I bet she probably has her own tobacco plantation inside,” his hands gestured in the air while Iwaizumi still grabbed onto him. “And to think, she ratted on us, she deserved this.” His face didn’t even have the slightest trace of guilt on him.

Iwaizumi released his hold on Terushima. Even though there was no other explanation, it was still a difficult pill to swallow. “It was an accident, right?” his eyes pleaded. “You guys were smoking over there, and by mistake-”

“Yeah,” Terushima exclaimed, his eyes crinkled in a wicked smile. “It was a mistake,” as easy as the smile appeared, as easy the smile disappeared from his lips. “Would you believe me if I said that?” Even though they were roughly around the same height, but at this moment, Iwaizumi felt small standing in front of all these hungry eyes staring at him. He felt like prey caught in a trap set by its predators.

“Hey Terushima! You just put everyone in the camp in danger!” Iwaizumi’s eyebrows furrowed as his face grew crimson with anger. HIs fists clenched tightly at his sides.

“So what?” Terushima inched forward, shortening the distance between them.

“You keep your mouth shut, you got that?” a hand landed on Iwaizumi’s left shoulder, clenching tightly. “It’s like you said. You know they won’t let this one slide. You want me to get expelled? Is that what you want? Huh?” the hand pushed with force, causing Iwaizumi to stumble backwards slightly. “Would you do that to your friend, Iwaizumi? In case you don’t remember, I beat up those bastards who were bullying Haru, remember that? You can’t do this to me. Not you. It will all be over when that old bitch loses her job. So just leave it alone, you’re good with that, aren’t you?”

With a final push, Terushima walked past him, joining his clique to leave the scene. Iwaizumi’s jaw tightened as his eyes started to well up. He felt so angry at the moment, all his fury from before that was pent up had finally felt like it was going to burst. How long was he going to stand by and watch people do as they please? He felt so hopeless, so useless. Even now, he couldn’t do anything but just stand by and watch. He thought that as long as he didn’t partake in anything, he was better than they who did. But how wrong was he. He was just the same, but he didn’t want to be, not anymore. He sucked back his tears and turned around, grabbing Terushima by the shoulders and turning him to face him. A fist swung through the air as it landed on Terushima’s cheek causing him to fall backwards onto the hard ground.

*

Leaning his back against a tree, Iwaizumi hugged his knees tightly, placing his bruised face in between the curve of his knees. It was late at night, and people were probably searching for him, or maybe they didn’t even notice his disappearance. Nah, they probably did, and he couldn’t bear to imagine the amount of trouble he would be in once he got out of this place. In fact, he didn’t even know where he was, after being beaten up, he just ran into the woods and went up the mountain as far as he could. He didn’t care if he might lose his way, or if it was dangerous. What he knows now was that being alone there was way more peaceful being surrounded by the sounds of owls hooting and the crickets chirping.

His quiet solitude alone was disturbed by the rustle of leaves and twigs as someone made their way to him. He had finally been found, now all that awaited him was the consequences of his actions. From behind closed eyelids, he could feel a faint source of light coming from the direction of the footsteps. He opened them, only to be met with dim light coming from a few fireflies trapped in a jar. He traced the hand towards the face, round hazel eyes looking at him fondly. “Gotcha, finally,” relief washed over the stranger’s dimly illuminated face.

“There you are, you sure know how to get holed up,” the stranger sat cross-legged next to him uninvited. “I’ve been looking all over for you. All the teachers are looking for you too. Let’s head back down,”

Iwaizumi had seen this boy before, but they weren’t close and he didn’t know his name, and yet this person was the first one to find him. He held his head hung low, not looking at the other boy’s face. He wasn’t ignoring him, he just wasn’t ready to go down yet. “I’ll take that as a no,” taking the hint, the boy must have understood him. They sat there in silence for a moment before the boy opened up to speak. “Why are you crying by yourself?” Iwaizumi was taken aback by the question. It was obvious he wasn’t crying and there were no tears in his eyes. Maybe the darkness made the boy see things. He looked at the brunette next to him, a puzzled look on his face.

“What do you mean, crying?”

The boy looked at him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He gave him a toothy grin, not a mocking one, but a bright one with no ill intent. “They say you don’t need tears to cry,” the boy said cheerfully. “It actually feels better to cry with tears.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Iwaizumi whispered under his breath, soft enough that the other boy couldn’t hear. “I’m not crying, I’m just mad. I’m never gonna apologize,” Iwaizumi spouted whatever came to his mind. He didn’t care if the boy couldn’t understand without context. That was the boy’s problem, not his.

“I’m not here to tell you to apologize,” the boy said reassuringly. “I’m here to find you.”

“Hmm,” Iwaizumi hummed, not saying anything further.

“Are those- are those fireflies?” the jar of light caught his attention, he was in awe, never having seen them this up close. The boy immediately lifted up the jar of fireflies eagerly. “Yeah, you wanna see?” he handed the jar to Iwaizumi, which he accepted willingly. “The fireflies on this mountain make it easier to find people,” looking at the jar of fireflies, Iwaizumi was immediately reminded of the soda can that was there in front of the greenhouse. Several holes were poked through the sides while a fire burned inside, giving a similar view of fireflies trapped in a jar.

“Oh right, I brought you something to eat. I figured you’d be hungry after staying up here for hours.” Iwaizumi hadn’t noticed that the boy had brought a small bag along with him. The boy opened it and took out a lunchbox, peeled off the lid, revealing a variety of mouth-watering onigiri inside. Iwaizumi’s jaw dropped at the sight of food.

“It’s onigiri that Mrs. Nakamura made. It’s gonna make you feel better,” the boy handed one of the rice balls to Iwaizumi. He then proceeded to pour what seemed like hot tea out of a flask and into the cup-lid.

“She got really worried when she heard you went missing,” Iwaizumi stared at the ball of rice in his hand before taking a big bite out of it. All of a sudden, he felt a gush of tears start to well in his eyes before streaming down his cheeks. “What the hell?,” The onigiri was delicious, but it didn’t make sense why he suddenly had the urge to cry. Iwaizumi wiped his tears using the hem of his shirt. It was just so sudden, he swore he was fine before that.

“She thought that those onigiris would help with releasing the tears,” the boy handed him the cup of tea. “What?! That’s just crazy!” the boy flinched at Iwaizumi’s sudden yell. He didn’t mean to raise his voice. “And yet, here you are crying,” the boy said calmly.

“Ugh,” Iwaizumi finally gave up. He finished eating the onigiri while tears streamed down his face. “There, there,” the boy patted his back while Iwaizumi munched miserably, tears dripping down his face endlessly. “Let it all out.”

*

They made their way down the mountain soon after the meal, the boy leading the way back with the jar of fireflies dangling from a stick. Iwaizumi towed behind him, staring at his broad back. It was embarrassing to cry in front of another student he was unfamiliar with, but he couldn’t deny that releasing the tears did clear up his mind a bit.

“Who are you?” Although a bit late, Iwaizumi realized they never had introduced themselves but the boy somehow knew him. The boy turned to look at him, hazel eyes gleaming in the dark.

“My name is Oikawa Tooru. I’m in the same group as you at camp.” he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

“No, I didn't mean that. How did you find me?” Iwaizumi stopped in his tracks, causing Oikawa to stop too.

Oikawa smiled at him, but he had a forlorn look to it. Iwaizumi couldn’t really tell whether it was genuine or not. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“You know Mrs. Nakamura the janitor right? She teaches me simple magic tricks from time to time,” Oikawa said nonchalantly.

“What?!” Iwaizumi couldn’t believe his ears. Now he was making even more nonsense. His forehead creased so hard Oikawa was afraid it would leave a permanent scar. Oikawa seemed to expect the reaction, seeing the way that he sighed deeply. “I said you wouldn't believe me,” he giggled after. This time his giggle felt genuine to Iwaizumi. From where they were standing now, they could see the lights from the campsite. Brushing the magic aside, they made their way downhill, “You’re really weird.”

Iwaizumi thought that it wasn’t because Oikawa found him, or maybe his unusual talents that surprised him. But it was the fact that he searched the mountain to find him, Iwaizumi, a fellow student who he didn’t know very well. The fact itself surprised him more.

*

_Whack!_

A punch made its way to the side of Iwaizumi’s arm as Iwaizumi stood firm to his ground. “What did you do, Iwaizumi?” Terushima barked out. His face reddened with anger. “Why does the teacher want to see me?”

“The fire at the camp, I told them I did it,” Iwaizumi said impassively. His eyes were vacant as he stared at Terushima, anger burning in his guts. An expression of shock clouded Terushima’s features. “You did what?” A sigh escaped his lips as he rubbed the back of his nape. “I told you to stay out of it, didn’t I?”

“For fuck’s sake, god, you’re so fucking annoying. I want you to get this straight, you’re not my friend. Stupid fuck,” letting out a spit to the hallway, Terushima walked past Iwaizumi in the opposite direction. “You’re right,” unfazed, Iwaizumi called out, causing Terushima to stop in his tracks. “So I hope we never see each other again after today,” Iwaizumi made his way back to class, leaving Terushima with his mouth agape. He was determined to cut ties with Terushima, a long time friend of his.

*

“You walk five steps forward, seven steps to the right, and then nine steps forward from the door of the storage building with your eyes closed,”

_Woah._

“This is amazing,” Iwaizumi stared in awe at his surroundings. He was standing in an abandoned bus in the middle of the woods but the interior was refurbished to look like some sort of secret hideout. Thin day curtains fluttered from the wind passing through the windows. A soft burgundy carpet covered one corner of the floor while books and square pillows littered the area. No words could describe how Iwaizumi felt at the moment. It was like he was transported to some other ethereal world. It all felt so surreal, he doubted he was still in the human world. He wondered how this place was only a few steps away from the storage building, where he recalled only seeing an expanse of trees from where he started just a while ago.

“You’re welcome here whenever you want,” holding a pizza box, Oikawa greeted him. That was the moment that Iwaizumi realized that Oikawa really did know how to do magic.

“Congratulations on your two-week suspension,”

Iwaizumi blew out the two candles placed on top of the pizza, in lieu of a mock birthday cake. “I bet Terushima would’ve been expelled.” They each began to indulge in their meal, starting with a slice each. “You sure you won’t regret it?” Oikawa asked between bites. Iwaizumi hesitated before answering, “I won’t.”

*

“Hey,” Iwaizumi turned on his side, facing Oikawa next to him who had a pillow under his chest. It was just a regular day of them spending hours after school in their secret hideout. Today, they just laid on the net hanging on the rooftop of the bus, Iwaizumi reading a book while admiring the silhouette of the trees above them while Oikawa was busy scribbling things in his notebook. “Hmm?” Oikawa hummed back in reply.

“Do you think I made a mistake?” Iwaizumi didn’t need to explain for Oikawa to know what he was talking about. “I know you were against it,”

Oikawa’s pen had stopped moving, his attention now fully diverted towards Iwaizumi. “Well, I didn’t think it was a good idea,” he mused. “But that was before you made your mind up. I think it’s amazing that you can make that kind of decision,” he mulled things over before continuing. “I mean, I don’t like that you’re being punished for something you didn’t do, but if you don’t regret it, I guess I’m okay with it too. Besides, we can hang out longer now that you’re suspended,” Oikawa concluded before returning back to his scribbling. Iwaizumi stared back at the sky as he thought it through.

“You know what? You’re the amazing one here,” he muttered under his breath but unfortunately it was loud enough for Oikawa to hear. “What? Say that again,” a flush crept up his face when he realized Oikawa had heard that. Oikawa’s eyes glittered in awe at being praised. Compliments from Iwaizumi were rare, and when they came, that meant they were genuine. “No, it’s just that, you can build places like this. It’s amazing,” Iwaizumi waved his hands in the air, gesturing at the bus around them. A faint pink colour tinted his cheeks, embarrassed at having said that out loud. “Aww, Iwa-chan!”

*

“No I didn’t build this place,” Oikawa moved his knight forward on the chess board. “It was here long before I got here. People just didn’t pay enough attention,” Iwaizumi was surprised by the sudden upbringing of the topic. It sure took a long time for Oikawa to come up with an explanation. And he had to bring it up in the middle of their nth chess game.

“What do you mean? No one’s gonna come here with their eyes closed to drink your tea,” Iwaizumi moved his bishop to counter Oikawa’s next move. “The tea was made from seeds that the janitor found here. It helps you understand this place. There aren’t many places you can just walk into. Each place has a different way to enter, it’s the same with people too. The moment I recognize someone and pay attention, he or she starts to exist right in front of me,” he mulled things over before making his next move.

“What are you talking abou-”

“Checkmate!” Oikawa interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. The corner of his mouth curled up in a victorious smile.

“Ugh, you distracted me with your weird speech!” Iwaizumi threw a pillow to Oikawa’s face. “Ouch,” Oikawa rubbed his nose where it hurt. He attempted to throw a pillow to Iwaizumi in revenge, but the latter was quick to dodge it. The triumphant smile was still plastered on his face as he smirked gleefully. “Ah, I finally won one,” he exclaimed after ten continuous losses.

What Oikawa had just said didn’t make sense to Iwaizumi at all. Maybe he was too influenced by cold logic to understand Oikawa’s beliefs.

Iwaizumi’s two weeks of suspension passed by in the blink of an eye, and he spent it all in their secret hideout. After school, Oikawa would join him. They would spend hours there, studying, playing games, most of the time doing nothing at all. Just basking in each other’s presence was enough to keep each other company.

“So...no curing people? Or flying?” one of their conversations started as they lay on the roof of the bus, stargazing into the abyss above. “No,” a soft laugh escaped Oikawa’s lips. “Now you think my magic’s not so cool after all, huh?”

“We’ve got hospitals and airplanes for all of that,” Oikawa explained.

“That’s science,” both of them mused at the same time. “A lot of time and effort goes into making miracles, so it’s easy to take them for granted. Same goes for healing sick people or flying. The moment they become ordinary and boring, they stop being miracles or magic.” Oikawa continued. They basked in silence under the gaze of the stars as they each pondered over their own thoughts, Iwaizumi silently agreeing with him.

*

“We’re not in the same class this time,”

A few months had passed by as quick as seasons changed. Time was short, as short as their breaths during volleyball practice and they were both nearing the end of their second year of junior high. The hallway was packed as students jostled against each other to get a glimpse of the bulletin board, where the lists of the students for each class had been posted. “That’s a shame,” Oikawa tched out of frustration.

“Don’t feel bad, we’ll meet up all the time anyway,” Iwaizumi said calmly as they made their way through the crowd. “Yeah, that’s right,” a pause came before Oikawa’s reply. It sounded offbeat, and Iwaizumi couldn’t help but feel something wrong with it. Before he could voice out his concern, a student shoved him harshly.

“Watch where you’re going,” the hooded figure barked at him. Iwaizumi caught a glimpse of the familiar face, but he paid no heed to him.

“Be careful, Terushima,” Oikawa called out, but there was an insinuating tone to it. He then looked at Iwaizumi to check if he was all right.

“You’re not mad at him anymore,” he stated in a matter-of-fact tone after seeing Iwaizumi’s expression. Iwaizumi didn’t realize that he didn’t feel anything until Oikawa had pointed it out. “I just think he’s not worth all my emotions,” he decided before walking back towards class with Oikawa by his side.

*

“Woah, You’re getting better with spiking Iwa-chan!” Oikawa exclaimed after seeing Iwaizumi fall back after a high jump. “Of course I am, or else I wouldn't be improving,” he replied in his usual indifferent tone.

“Hehe,” Oikawa tilted his head, allowing him to notice how bruised Iwaizumi’s knees were. “You really need to wear knee pads Iwa-chan,” Oikawa commented. Iwaizumi looked down on his own knees before agreeing, ”Yeah, I really do.”

Iwaizumi thought back on how he spiked the last ball. It all led back to the toss. Only a perfect toss would lead to a perfect hit. The effort and thought put into making a perfect toss should not be taken lightly.

“Nope, it’s all thanks to you and your weird talents,”

“Huh? Nah I was just-” Oikawa scratched the back of his nape in confusion. This was the first time he seemed to not be aware of Iwaizumi trying to praise him.

“No, I mean it,” Iwaizumi looked back at him. “I’m not going to say it again but,” he took in a deep breath before uttering the next words. “Thank you.”

Oikawa smiled fondly towards him. “No, thank you.”

*

Iwaizumi walked towards Oikawa’s class after school, only to find his seat empty to his surprise. He had planned to head towards the volleyball gym for practice with him. “What?” Iwaizumi asked supposedly one of Oikawa’s classmates. “Oikawa’s absent on the first day of school?”

The classmate seemed to recognize Iwaizumi as one of Oikawa’s close friends. A puzzled look climbed its way to her face. “Iwaizumi, didn’t you hear?”

“Hear what?” Iwaizumi asked, eager to know more. Had he fallen sick? Oikawa did mention he was frail before, but he said he had already undergone treatment when he was younger.

“He emigrated during the vacation. I heard he’s gone for good.” Iwaizumi’s eyes widened at her statement. A surge of anger rose inside him. Was it so urgent that Oikawa couldn’t even tell him? Iwaizumi had thought of him as his best friend, but it seemed that the feeling wasn’t mutual. A wave of mixed feelings washed over him. He felt anger, sadness, but most prominently, disappointment. He was disappointed at himself, maybe he didn’t matter enough to Oikawa as much as he did to him.

*

“So you _are_ friends,” Suga concluded. They both sat on top of the bus as Iwaizumi told Suga his story about Oikawa.

“I doubt that. At least I thought I was,” Iwaizumi looked down at his feet dangling. Suga couldn’t help but notice the forlorn look of sorrow on his face as he told his story.

“He had the time to leave letters to a stranger, but he couldn’t even say goodbye to me. That’s a joke right there,” his expression hardened as what resembled anger clouded his features. “I found your letter for you. I’m leaving.” Iwaizumi got up and proceeded to climb down the letter. Suga wanted to stop him but he had no reason to. He understood Iwaizumi’s anger. No, it felt more like disappointment. He was betrayed by his own friend. Of course he was free to feel however he felt like.

Still sitting on top of the bus with his feet dangling in the air, Suga opened the letter. Along with the piece of paper meant for him, there was another letter and a pair of black knee pads enveloped inside.

“Wait! Iwaizumi!” he called out to Iwaizumi before it was too late. Thankfully, he was still climbing down the ladder. “I think this is for you!” he handed out the letter and the knee pads towards Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi’s eyes widened in surprise, but there was a hint of happiness that lit in his eyes. Taking the letter, Iwaizumi sat back on top of the bus with Suga.

_Dear Iwa-chan,_

_I’m sorry for leaving you with just a letter.  
I’m not sure when I’m coming back,  
So I couldn’t bring myself to tell you in  
person that I was leaving.  
I didn’t want to say goodbye. Take care until  
we meet again. Know that I’m always grateful  
to you for being my best friend._

_Your dear friend, Oikawa Tooru_

The letter only had a few lines, but Iwaizumi read it over and over again. He even started to shed a few tears, but to Suga, he looked like he was crying out of happiness.

*

“Suga! Let’s go!” Iwaizumi called out as he waited in front of Suga’s classroom. Suga slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Mhm!”

“What about your volleyball practice?”

“I told the guys that I had an errand to run so it’ll be fine,”

“Are you sure it’s fine? Won’t they get mad at you?”

“I’ll go back after we find the next letter, and I’ll also make sure to practice extra hours after that!”

Daichi, who had his eyes trained on them earlier, asked out of the blue, “Are you guys going out?”

Iwaizumi’s face immediately turned scarlet red from the sudden question but Suga seemed unfazed. “Nah, we’re just friends,” he smiled at Daichi. “I think I’ll go home with Iwaizumi today.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow!” Suga waved a hand goodbye before heading out with Iwaizumi.

“Sorry about that,” Iwaizumi apologized.

“Hmm?” Suga hummed in askance, not quite understanding what Iwaizumi meant.

“I shouldn’t have come to your classroom. They think we’re going out now,”

Suga let out a soft giggle. “No, don’t worry. It’s just because they’ve never seen us together. I’m actually glad you came. You’re here because you wanna find the letters quickly, right?”

“Yeah!” Iwaizumi agreed with him. “At first, I thought Oikawa’s done something stupid, but I got so excited about the next letter I couldn’t even sleep last night!”

“Right? When I first found it, I couldn’t even describe how I felt back then-”

As they chattered along, Suga couldn’t help but notice how Iwaizumi seemed a lot happier compared to when he first met him.

*

“Let’s see, he said that the next letter is under the sky-blue rock in campsite no.1,” Suga held the previous letter in his hands as he scrutinized it. He turned to face Iwaizumi to ask for his opinion since he didn’t know where campsite no. 1 was located but Iwaizumi had his nose scrunched in realization.

Standing on top of a bridge across a clear-water pond, Suga’s face contorted into the same expression as Iwaizumi. “Umm,” he was at a loss of words looking at the colourful lilies floating atop the clear blue water. “This is campsite no. 1?”

“Just before you transferred here, they made this place into an artificial pond,” facepalming himself, Iwaizumi explained.

“So the letter..., is underwater?” Suga stared back at his reflection in the crystal clear water, unblinking. Iwaizumi lifted a finger to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I bet even Oikawa didn’t see this coming,” he turned to face Suga, but Suga had already placed his bag down and was now beginning to do a few stretches.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, confusion evident on his face as to Suga’s weird movements.

“I’m stretching out! I’m gonna go in there and find the letter,”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,”

Suga looked at Iwaizumi with a blank look on his face. It was enough to send the message across that he was not joking and serious about it. “Fine,” Iwaizumi knew there was no persuading him out of it. Suga reminded him of Oikawa in a sense, they were both unbelievably stubborn. They settled their bags by the grass and took their shoes and school shirts off, wearing only a t-shirt underneath. Borrowing a pair of flashlights from the storage room, they began their search inside the pond. It was a good thing that the pond wasn’t that deep and barely reached their collarbones.

Diving in, they searched every nook and cranny, under each rook and through the leaves underwater for the letter. When they were caught out of breath, they resurfaced back, gasping for air.

“It’s not as easy as I thought it would be,” Iwaizumi said between breaths, body still submerged underwater.

“Yeah,” Suga pondered aloud.

Iwaizumi let out a low laugh at the sight of Suga. “You’ve got a lotus leaf stuck on your head.” A flush crept up Suga’s cheeks, staining them pink. He quickly removed the wet leaf, embarrassed at how silly he must have looked.

“At least it’s easier to lift the rocks because we’re underwater. Let’s go looking again!” Iwaizumi said before taking a deep breath and diving back underwater. They returned to lifting rocks and checking underneath them. One particular rock was too large for one to lift alone so they both lifted it together and underneath it, they found the seventh letter. “Found it!” they both gurgled simultaneously at the sight of the letter before resurfacing.

*

“So you found the letter, but you couldn’t read it because the ink ran all over the page, huh?” Mrs. Nakamura looked pitifully at the two boys in front of her as she prepared warm tea for the both of them.

“I know it’s late summer, but my dear, jumping into a pond?! You guys will catch a cold.” Shaking her head, she worried over them as Suga and Iwaizumi both held a cup of warm tea each in their palms. “Okay,” their faces drooped at the disappointment of being unable to read the letter. Two towels were wrapped around their shoulders while Akemi the white cat licked its paws on the bench between them. Mrs. Nakamura couldn’t help but feel sorry for their ill-fated situation.

“Alright, give me the letter before it dries out,” she offered her help. Suga and Iwaizumi’s eyes lit up excitedly at Mrs. Nakamura’s offer. Maybe she was going to do one of her magic tricks. Suga was quick to lay out the wet illegible letter in front of them on the table. Using a special candle, Mrs. Nakamura heated up one of her empty teapots from her teapot collection. The teapot was blue and adorned more of a geometric pattern. After she decided it was heated long enough, she tapped the spout of the teapot in the middle of the paper and before their eyes, a bubble of water started to lift, connected to the spout as Mrs. Nakamura slowly lifted her teapot. The edges of the paper dried first as the water was lifted from the paper and into the teapot. Akemi had climbed up onto the wooden table as it tried to paw at the floating bubbles drifting back to the spout of the teapot.

“Here you go,” Mrs. Nakamura pushed the letter towards them as the final drop of water was sucked into the teapot’s spout.

“Guwaah!” incomprehensible noises came out from both boys at the show of Mrs. Nakamura's magic. Both of the towels hung on their shoulders dropped to the floor as they stood up in excitement. “You’re amazing!” Iwaizumi exclaimed as he started to read the letter. “You really are a witch!” Suga expressed with no ill intent. Mrs. Nakamura could only smile at the gush of compliments.

“Oh, but, it starts to say where the next letter is, but I can’t read the rest of it,” Suga peered over to see, confirming what Iwaizumi said was true.

“Hmm, that’s odd,” Mrs. Nakamura’s brows drew together. “That maybe because it has been left underwater for too long.” Mrs. Nakamura pondered aloud.

“But thank you so much anyways,” Iwaizumi thanked Mrs. Nakamura nevertheless.

“Yeah! We can read enough of it to figure out where the next letter is,” Suga turned to face Iwaizumi. “Let’s go look for it tomorrow.” Iwaizumi nodded in affirmation. Mrs. Nakamura giggled seeing their enthusiasm in searching for Oikawa’s letters. “Leave the letter here. I might be able to recover a bit more information from it,” she suggested kindly as they both got up to leave.

“Okay!” they both agreed in unison.

“Mrs. Nakamura! Thank you so much!” they both called out before closing the door of the wooden office, leaving Mrs. Nakamura to the peace and quiet of her mind.

Looking at them fondly, Mrs. Nakamura took a look at the dried letter. “You see how much he cares about you,” she whispered to herself. Akemi’s fluffy white fur felt soft between her fingers. “Oikawa...”

*

“There it is!” Suga’s face peeked through the small door of the abandoned incinerator by the school gate. Right in the middle of the dusty compartment was a brown manila envelope, a bit larger than the one Oikawa had regularly used for the other letters. Maybe there was something special inside?

“That was a lot easier than the other letters right?” Suga brushed off the bits of ash on his arm that had just poked through the incinerator.

“Yeah, thank goodness they don’t use this incinerator anymore,” Iwaizumi mused. He didn’t even realize that their school even had one.

 _Achoo!_ Suga let out a sneeze to the air. “Bless you,” Iwaizumi never thought he would see a sneeze so elegant before. “Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t have jumped into the pond yesterday,” he reprimanded softly.

“It’s just a light cold, I’m okay,” Suga reassured him, brushing it off as just a regular sneeze.

“Okay then, I have to go to volleyball practice now,” he slung his backpack across one shoulder, leaving the letter in Suga’s care.

“Oh yeah, you’re gonna be late, go ahead,” in Suga’s mind, he really wanted to read the letter, but guess he’ll read it later with Iwaizumi. His thoughts must have been translated into his expression because Iwaizumi told him he could read the letter first if he wanted to.

“N-no it’s alright, we’ll read it together in a bit,” he reassured Iwaizumi, even though Iwaizumi really didn’t mind him reading it earlier.

“Okay,” Iwaizumi gave him one last worried look of concern before making a dash towards the gym.

All throughout class, somehow Suga couldn’t focus on the subjects. His mind was elsewhere, specifically on the letter sitting quietly under his table. Not to mention the cold that was slowly creeping up on him. He couldn’t stop sniffling throughout the day. He hated colds. During the fourth period, Suga finally gave in to his desires. A peek would be fine, he reassured himself as watery snot threatened to drip down his nostrils. He opened the letter but what came to him was unexpected as a gasp escaped his lips and his eyes widened in surprise.

*

“Where is it?” the door of the incinerator clanged open. A hand inserted itself into the compartment, scuffling around searching for a certain brown manila envelope. He swore he had placed it there the evening before. Finally feeling something beneath the ashes, the hand pulled it out, only to discover something different. The letter had shrunk in size, definitely not the same one he was looking for. Covered in ashes, he figured that this letter must have been in there for a while. Terushima Yuuji flipped the letter, a large number 8 written on it. “What is this?” he muttered to himself under his breath.

*

“So you're telling me that wasn’t one of Oikawa’s letters?” Iwaizumi started after hearing Suga’s story. “I take it that you’ve opened it.” Guilty, Suga bowed profusely.

“I-I’m sorry, but that’s not what’s important now!” Holding the manila envelope, Suga opened it to reveal its contents. “The envelope had this inside it.”

Iwaizumi pulled the papers out further to reveal examination questions. “But the exam’s two weeks away…” A lightbulb had suddenly lit itself in his mind as realization dawned upon his face. “You think someone stole the exam sheets, and copied them?” The thin line forming on Suga’s lips as he nodded confirmed that the same thought occurred to him too. “What do you think we should do?” they both stood there in silence, thinking hard on their options.

“I think we should find Oikawa’s letter first and then take this to the teacher’s office.”

Iwaizumi mulled over Suga’s suggestion, going over the pros and cons in his mind. He hummed in agreement. “I guess that’s our best choice for now.”

After school, they immediately made a beeline for the incinerator, hoping that maybe the original letter was still inside there somewhere. Suga poked both his hands inside, fumbling around to find the real one. “There’s nothing in here,” he wiped off a bead of sweat after the nth time of scrimmaging aimlessly. He was already at the brink of defeat, ready to give up.

“Let me have a look again,” Suga made way for Iwaizumi to search the compartment. Both of them were too busy searching to notice the sound of footsteps approaching from behind.

“Are you two looking for a letter?” a familiar voice called out. Both heads turned to look at the owner of the voice.

“Because if you were, that means you have my stuff.” His gaze eyed both of them up and down. “If you’re willing to get ashes all over your faces to find it, then it must be really important. Just give me my stuff back and I’ll give you yours so let’s forget this ever happened,” the boy suggested.

Suga had never seen this boy before, but his gut feeling told him that he was bad news. He opened his mouth to speak, “W-we-”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about.” Suga turned to face Iwaizumi. His expression was hardened as his eyes narrowed on the boy. Something told him that Iwaizumi knew this boy, but their history together wasn’t pretty. “Give me back my letter,” Iwaizumi demanded, his expression so frightening that even Suga flinched.

Unfazed, the boy strode forward. “I see you’ve grown a pair, Iwaizumi. I didn’t know you could lie with a straight face” Suga could see Iwaizumi’s fists clench at his sides as he stood up, ready to face the other boy. This wasn’t going to turn into a confrontation, right? Or so, Suga hoped. This wasn’t going to be a pretty sight.

“Oikawa wrote the letter, didn’t he? That kid who transferred? What’s wrong with you two?” the other continued taunting Iwaizumi. Suga grew more and more worried as he watched. What happened if this turned into a fist fight? He had to do something, anything.

“That letter means a lot to both of us. Give it back, please.” Iwaizumi bellowed, unmoving.

Terushima smirked arrogantly. “Yeah, I read it too.” With his hands in his pockets, he neared the distance between him and Iwaizumi. “It had an address, a place for you to send a reply,” Both their ears perked at the information. Terushima’s eyes gleamed in interest as he smirked arrogantly. “Wait, didn’t you guys hang out all the time? And he didn’t even leave you his new address? That’s harsh.”

The atmosphere grew more tense by the minute as Terushima continued. “You’re so pathetic Iwaizumi. Thinking someone’s your friend, then finding out that the feeling wasn’t mutual? That’s gotta hurt-”

A pair of ashy hands landed on Terushima’s chest, pushing him away. His shirt was stained with dust by those hands. Iwaizumi was snapped out from his state of helplessness. “You,” Suga stepped forward, taking charge. “You want your things back, right? Well, we just found out you stole the exams. Don’t get so cocky here. If you want those back, you watch yourself.” At this moment, Suga’s heartbeat thumped so hard he thought it was going to leap out of his chest. He lifted a finger and poked it towards the boy’s chest. With one final boost of confidence, Suga warned him. “If you keep it up, we won’t give it back to you!”

Terushima was taken aback by Suga’s sudden outburst, but he quickly regained composure. “Good,” he slapped Suga’s finger off him. “So you do have them. Bring them here, same time tomorrow.” With a turn of his heel, he walked away, leaving them both speechless.

A breath of relief escaped Suga’s chest as he clenched near his heart. Was that kid serious? Suga watched his receding back as he walked further and further away.

“I’m sorry Iwaizumi,” Suga apologized, eyes trained at his ashen shoes as if they were the most interesting thing at the moment. “You were trying so hard to hold it in, but I ruined it all.” Suga squeezed his eyes shut as he fought back tears.

“No,” surprised, Suga turned to look at him. There wasn’t a look of anger or disappointment, just a soft acknowledging smile. “Thanks for raising your voice on my behalf.”

Suga smiled back.

*

On his way home, Suga couldn’t stop mulling over about what had happened earlier. He knew Iwaizumi said it was okay, but whenever Suga stepped in, thinking he was doing the right thing, there was this nagging feeling that told him his actions only made things worse. He was reminded of the bullying incident that made him transfer in the first place. Back then, the bullying only got worse in the end. Was it because he spoke up when he didn’t even have the power to solve anything? Both Yaku, and Iwaizumi, maybe they were both blaming Suga for what happened.

The letter that had Oikawa’s address, if they didn’t retrieve it, they can’t find any more letters. Iwaizumi wanted the letter so badly he even said ‘please’. Suga just needed to keep his mouth shut just this once, but even that he failed to do so. Because there’s no guarantee that doing the right thing will make things better. Suga would be grateful if he didn’t make things worse. If the right thing you thought at the time only aggravates things, then maybe it wasn’t right in the first place.

*

“I’m home,”

Suga opened his shoes by the genkan of his dim-lit house. His grandmother probably hadn’t returned yet. Sitting on the counter, he saw a few letters laying around. Taking off his backpack, he rushed over and went through the letters. Of course, it would be impossible, how would Oikawa know where he lived. But still it was just a thought. But one of the letters was from Yaku Morisuke. Yaku, from the bullying incident. Carefully, Suga opened the letter to read its contents.

_Hi Suga! How are you?  
I’m settling in.  
I’ve made a couple of friends.  
We eat together and go to school too.  
The rest of my classmates are all really nice too.  
But as it turns out, we have bullies here as well.  
Even when I wasn’t the victim this time,  
it was still so scary.  
Because all those hateful words weren’t all that  
different from what I’ve heard in the past,  
it felt like those words were directed at me.  
Now I know how much courage it took.  
I think I’m gonna cry.  
Because I’m so grateful to you, Suga.  
Here, I found friends who agreed with doing the right thing.  
The only reason.  
I was able to speak up against what I felt was wrong.  
Was all because of you.  
Because you stood up for me,  
I could stand up for the others.  
Thank you._

A huge rock had suddenly been lifted off Suga’s chest. How long had he been carrying that around? How had he not noticed before how heavy that rock was? Sitting on the floor of his living room alone, Suga held the letter close to his heart. Those words, he’d never heard of them before. This was the first time he was on the receiving end of such comforting words. It was exactly what he needed to hear the most right now. He did not make things worse. His actions mattered. People cared about him. He had done the right thing. Tears started to swell in his eyes as they threatened to spill out, but Suga wasn’t going to fight them back anymore. This evening, he was going to let them flow, along with all the regrets and negative thoughts he had before. He was going to continue doing the right thing from now on.

*

“Um, Iwaizumi, what do you think?” Suga poked his feet at the sand from the swing set they were sitting on. At the neighbourhood children’s playground, they both enjoyed the night breeze that brushed through their hair as they pondered over their next decision.

“I think we shouldn’t give it back to him,” Suga hesitated before saying it out, afraid to hear Iwaizumi’s opinion.

“That’s what I think so too,” Iwaizumi assured. “And I think, Oikawa wouldn’t want us to get his letters by lying,”

“Yeah,”

A moment of silence washed over them. “You’re okay with that?” Iwaizumi asked, his eyes vacant. He had a far-off look on his face.

“Well, honestly, I’m more worried about you.” _You’re the one who’d want those letters the most._

Suga coughed profusely after voicing out his concern. “You look sick. Let’s head back before it gets any worse.” Worried, Iwaizumi suggested. “But, I’m fine. Thanks to you, I’ve already found the most important letter.” He stood up to stand directly in front of Suga. “And, don’t you think we can look for the rest of the letters without the one that Terushima’s taken? If you’re okay with it, I’d love to keep looking for them, once you feel better of course. What do you say?” he extended a hand for Suga to take.

Holding his hand tightly, Iwaizumi pulled him up. “I’d love to.”

_I’d love to find all the letters. And I wanna tell Oikawa in person one day. I wanna say thanks._

*

The next day, Suga and Iwaizumi took the exam papers to the teacher’s office right away. Terushima was expelled, and he burned the letter right there when they didn’t show up. By the time Suga and Iwaizumi arrived at the incinerator, only ashes of the letter remained.

“I don’t even think Mrs. Nakamura can recover a letter from the ashes,”

“Probably not,”

All of a sudden, Suga’s head felt heavy with dizziness as his vision became clouded with haze. “So it’s really over, huh,” the world around him started to spin as his headache grew stronger and his senses started to malfunction. His feet lost their balance as the ground beneath him disappeared and he fell down with a thump. The last thing he heard was Iwaizumi’s worried voice before his world turned dark.

*

“You jumped into a pond because of a letter? That’s reckless. Don’t do that again, okay?” the doctor reprimanded Suga. Suga could only give her a lopsided grin. “Hehe.” the doctor shaked her head at Suga with much chagrin.

“You’ll be better after a few days rest,”

“Thank you doctor,” Suga lifted two fingers to the top of his head in a mock salute.

“It’s been a while, but I’m really not happy to see you here. You can’t come back after I’ve done all that work to treat you.”

“I’m sorry doctor,” Suga bowed his head to the doctor.

“That’s okay. Have some rest,” the doctor checked Suga’s vital readings one last time before leaving the room. As she exited, Suga saw Iwaizumi enter carrying a bag of fruits.

“Iwaizumi!” Suga sat up straighter in bed, ready to greet him. He was glad to see a familiar face visiting him. “Hey, how’re you feeling?” Iwaizumi took a seat, making himself comfortable as he placed the fruits on the side table. “A lot better, thanks,”

“You seem to know the doctors quite well,” Iwaizumi mentioned out of curiosity.

“I was here for some time when I was young,” After Suga fainted at school earlier, Iwaizumi immediately called for help and Suga had to be hospitalized at the local hospital.

“Suga, do you remember where each letter was?”

“Huh? Ah of course!” Suga glanced up at the ceiling as he recalled each location. “Let’s see, the first one was in my desk drawer, the second was in the library, the third was in the volleyball gym, the fourth was with Mrs. Nakamura, and then the storage building, the hideout, the pond that used to be the camping site, and the incinerator,”

Nine letters altogether. Iwaizumi pondered on the meaning of each location and why Oikawa chose them. He could hear the cogs in his brain start to work as he recollected certain memories.

“I think I’ve got it. I know where the next letter is,” he finally let out an answer after doing some thinking.

“Really?” intrigued, Suga’s eyes widened in interest. “Yeah,” Iwaizumi confirmed. “Just leave it to me, I’ll be right back,” he got up and headed towards the next location.

*

Suga’s desk was the last time where Iwaizumi had last seen him. The location of the letters are in reverse time order. They were all locations that Iwaizumi had seen Oikawa. The library. The volleyball gym. Mrs. Nakamura. The storage building with the cats. The hideout. The camping site. The incinerator. Then the next letter must be where they met for the first time. Where Oikawa first found him. The mountain.

The burnt letter must have had the exact location, but maybe Iwaizumi shouldn’t have wandered around the mountain without an exact location in mind. He looked around at his surroundings that were growing increasingly unfamiliar. The sky above was getting darker, as Iwaizumi’s field of vision became limited. How did Oikawa even find him back then in all that darkness? As Iwaizumi trudged forward, he noticed the dim luminesce of light glowing near his feet. Soon, he was surrounded by a forest of tiny glowing lanterns, providing some shine to his surroundings as he made out the distinct shape of trees around him. One of his earliest conversations with Oikawa echoed throughout his mind.

_The fireflies of this mountain, they make finding things easier._

He crouched to the ground and started picking out twigs, finally settling on a long and slender one. Taking off his school shirt, he waved it in the air and caught a few fireflies before tying his shirt onto the stick. Now he had a firefly lantern to guide him the way. But which way exactly, he didn’t know. Maybe it all ended up back to luck and intuition. “This way?” Iwaizumi whispered to himself. He ended up following his gut feelings, but the fireflies did provide light for him to move forward. After rustling through leaves and branches, he finally found the place he was looking for. The tree that he rested his back against where Oikawa first found him. And in the nook of the tree hollow, there, he found the ninth letter.

With the letter in hand and the help of fireflies, he made his way down the mountain safely. When he finally reached the storage building, Iwaizumi opened the letter to read its contents. His mouth fell open with shock at the sentence stating the next letter’s location. The rooftop garden of the local hospital where Suga was currently hospitalized.

*

“Iwaizumi?” Suga was surprised to receive a phone call this late at night from Iwaizumi. He didn’t expect Iwaizumi to find the letter so soon. Iwaizumi sounded so out of breath that he couldn’t make out what the latter had to say. “Calm down, and tell me again slowly,”

“He didn’t emigrate to another country,” Iwaizumi finally let out once he regained composure. “Oikawa, he went to get surgery. His childhood disease relapsed,” Suga could only listen in shock as he waited anxiously for the rest of the story.

“The last letter, is right where you are. In the rooftop garden of Miyagi General Hospital. The ninth letter was where I first met Oikawa. So the last letter is hidden somewhere I don’t know. Suga, you said that you used to live here, and that you’ve stayed in that hospital for quite a while right? When you were there, have you met Oikawa? I think Oikawa wasn’t writing to some random kid who’d take his seat. He wrote it to you, Suga. He knew you’d take his seat.”

*

_7 years ago, rooftop garden of Miyagi General Hospital._

“Today we’re going on a treasure hunt! Look carefully behind the trees and under the rocks!” the head pediatrician announced to the excited young patients gathered in front of her. “Are you guys ready to have some fun then?” All the children donned in hospital gowns yelled in unison. “Yess!”

At the blow of a whistle, each child scrambled to gather as many red pouches as they could. Some dangled from trees, while others were hidden in between flowers. “Woah, look at Sugawara!” one of the children exclaimed. “He already found five!”

“Suga, can I have one?” another child asked him.

“No!” he teased back playfully.

“How did you find five?”

“It’s because I have a special way of looking!” eight-year old Suga proceeded to bend forward, peeking his head between his legs and looking at the world upside-down. The other child followed in his steps. “Like this?”

Suga quickly dashed away, dragging his IV drip pole along and leaving the other kid in a silly pose. “Wait!” the other kid yelled as he chased Suga. Despite being sick, Suga was quite the active one. Hearing a rustle in one of the grassy patches, he quickly dived in, discovering another boy sitting alone. The boy was folding paper origami into different shapes. Alarmed, he stopped abruptly once he noticed he was being watched.

“Woah,” Suga exclaimed as he dropped all the pouches he had collected onto the ground. “You found a really cool place. Can I come in?” Technically, he was already in the grassy patch but he still asked for permission before moving closer. The boy visibly startled, nodded his head eagerly at his newfound companion. From outside the grassy patch, two IV drip stands could be seen next to each other.

“This is really cool! It’s like we became really small!” Suga marvelled at the tall grass encaging them. “You’re amazing,” he flashed a toothy grin at the other boy. “I’ve spent more than a hundred nights here, but I’ve never seen a place like this.” Suga held a determined fist in front of him. “Okay, this is gonna be my fifth secret hideout. I have four more in the hospital. You’re always welcome there!” The boy blinked in confusion, but his heart fluttered as he listened to Suga ramble on. “Have you read Gulliver’s travels? It’d be so much fun to read it here!”

The small fragile boy, Oikawa Tooru, had never read Gulliver’s Travels before. He read it later on, but he preferred listening to Suga’s stories. Because Suga made him like the place he was in.

“Do you wanna go and look outside?” Suga suggested.

“N-no,” the boy replied feebly.

“Why not?”

Oikawa fiddled with his fingers nervously before answering. “If I go outside, I’ll get needles...”

Suga picked up all the pouches he had dropped earlier. Opening one, he took out a small rainbow-coloured candy and took a bite out of it. Stars twinkled in Oikawa’s eyes at the sight of the candy. He hadn’t been able to get his hands on a red pouch, having been too shy to participate in the children's day event.

“Then, I’ll give you all of these,” Suga shoved all five candy-filled pouches in Oikawa’s direction. At that moment, Oikawa didn’t know what he had just gotten himself into when he accepted all those candies. Flashing a toothy grin, Suga pulled Oikawa out of the grassy patch. “Let’s play!”

From that day on, Suga took Oikawa around every little corner of the hospital. He made sure that Oikawa would not feel alone. Because of Oikawa’s fear of needles, Suga made sure to accompany him every time, even when the shots were administered in embarrassing places. Thanks to Suga, Oikawa began to get accustomed to life at the hospital. However, Suga had a playful side to him back then, a personality trait that Oikawa adopted in the future.

“If you’re done , I’m gonna hand this in,” Suga had once offered to dispose of Oikawa’s meal tray one lunchtime.

“Okay…thanks,” Little did naïve Oikawa know what was in store for him. When he lifted the desk after eating, he was in for one of the biggest surprises of his life. A bad drawing of a ghost was taped to the underside of his bed desk. He screamed so loud that the nurses were alerted, only to find a frightened Oikawa and a giggling Suga. After that moment, Oikawa would always make sure to feel under the desk before lifting it.

There were also days that were difficult to watch, for example, the days where he would awake in the middle of the night to Suga in a coughing fit. And there were also days that were hard to endure. During one of his bad days, he awoke to Suga sleeping by his bedside with a bouquet of origami flowers. But there were also days that Oikawa loved because of Suga.

Suga had a lot of friends, he was the friendly type, but Oikawa didn’t have anyone except for him. And when the day came for inevitable separation, childish anger took over him when he heard Suga was leaving. While the other children were gathered around him celebrating his discharge, Oikawa charged off to his secret hideout in the grassy patch. By the time he got back, Suga had already left, leaving not even a trace of him, and Oikawa didn’t even know whether they would meet again. His meals were lonely again, and for the first time ever, he ate everything on his plate. Even the lady who regularly picked up empty plates praised him, but Suga wasn’t there to celebrate his achievement. When he lifted his desk, a message from Suga awaited him.

_Oikawa, be well! I’ll see you again!_

That simple message gave him hope that they would surely meet again. Not today, not tomorrow, but definitely one day. Oikawa would always remember all the little favors Suga gave him. It’s the invisible things that he loved the most. Six months later, Oikawa was finally discharged. He was able to attend elementary and junior high school, even participating actively in the volleyball club. But alas, his illness relapsed in his last year of junior high.

*

“Oikawa, you sure you don’t want any of your friends to know? Not even Iwaizumi?” His homeroom teacher asked him, snapping him out of his lament.

“Yes. please don’t tell them. Iwaizumi’s got the volleyball tournament coming up. It’ll only distract him,”

“But-” the teacher wanted to say something, but Oikawa continued on. “They said, they weren’t sure how the operation would turn out,” as he said that, sadness glistened in his eyes.

The teacher nodded understandingly. He must have thought it was best for Oikawa to tell his friends, but he respected the student’s decision. “If that’s what you think, okay. Is there anything else I can do for you?” he asked, wrapping up his meeting with Oikawa about his transfer. “You’ve done enough. Thank you sir,” he bowed at the teacher politely. “Enjoy your summer break, goodbye,” just as Oikawa was about to leave, a glimpse of a particular student transfer form on the teacher’s desk was enough to make him stop in his tracks.

“Sir!” The teacher jolted upwards out of surprise from Oikawa’s sudden outburst. “Yes?” He fixed the glasses on his nose bridge.

“This guy, is he transferring to our school?” Oikawa took a better glance at the student ID photo attached to the top of the form. The familiar light-grey haired boy. That’s him.

“Ah, yes, he’s coming here in the second semester, so you’d be gone for your operation by then. I was told that he used to live here when he was younger. Do you know him?”

Oikawa took a closer look at the form. That’s got to be him. The boy that used to bring smiles to him when Oikawa was younger. He couldn’t remember his name very well, but that was undoubtedly him.

“You want me to give him your seat? Is that it?” the teacher suggested, seeing how OIkawa was particularly interested in the student.

“Yes sir, if that’s okay with you,”

“All right,” the teacher agreed after contemplating it over. There was no reason to reject anyway.

“Thank you sir,”

If his disease had relapsed a little later, then maybe Oikawa would be able to enjoy this place he loved with the two people he cherished. He inserted the pieces of paper into a letter and wrote a large number one on the back. No, he should stop thinking like that. He can always meet them after his operation. But still, it’s a shame, he couldn’t even tell Iwaizumi because of a stupid feeling eating away at his brain. If he dies he doesn’t want him to know, but at the same time, he wants him to know. He doesn't want him to get hurt, but he still wants to whine to Iwaizumi about it. He’s scared that he’d be lonely. Oikawa wants them to find the letters, but at the same time, he doesn’t want them to find them. He wants them to forget about him, but he also wants them to remember him. He just wants them to come and see him.

*

Suga rushed towards the rooftop garden of Miyagi General Hospital. The cold night air hits him as he carefully pulls around his IV drip pole. Feeling the cold air nib away at his skin, he pulls the cardigan he was wearing tighter around his chest, taking in the familiar surroundings of the place he spent a significant amount of childhood at. Funnily enough, it was the same place but he had never once been in this garden at night. Iwaizumi’s phone call earlier invoked a series of memories in his mind. Ones that he didn’t even remember burying it away. There was only one place and one boy that came to mind as he approached the grassy patch he once thought so tall it surrounded him, providing a safe space for him and Oikawa Tooru. Now, he was towering over it, the place that used to protect him as he folded origami flowers in the empty space in the middle.

Suga crouched down, his hands fumbling around for any texture that felt like paper in the middle of the tall patch of grass. Finally he found the final letter, and inside was encased two shinkansen train tickets to Tokyo. The train was due to leave in four days. Had they found it any sooner, they would probably have missed the chance to see him.

*

“The train to Tokyo, Tokyo, is now approaching. Any passengers bound for Tokyo, please board the train on platform number three,” the automated voice echoed throughout the station. Suga and Iwaizumi sat on the bench with their luggage in hand as they waited for the incoming train.

“The train’s here,” Iwaizumi pointed out. They both got up and started to get into line to board the train. “What about Mrs. Nakamura?” Suga asked. They had told her all about Oikawa and how they were going to visit him, inviting her along. “She said she has a meeting, so she’s gonna take the next train.”

Settled into their seats, Suga and Iwaizumi were at a loss on what to do. As the train left the station and headed towards Tokyo, the nervousness built up earlier had subsided a little, but it was enough for them to feel restless throughout the entire trip. The train ride to Tokyo wasn’t that far, but it felt like an eternity. Occupying the window seat, Suga couldn’t even enjoy the beautiful expanse of scenery outside. All he could think of was the moment they would meet Oikawa Tooru. How would he greet him? How would they feel when they would see him? He glanced over at Iwaizumi, his eyes held the same vacant expression as Suga. His mind must be elsewhere too. Silence filled their trip as they were both drowned in their respective thoughts. Suga couldn’t help but notice the incessant jiggling of Iwaizumi’s knees throughout the entire ride.

“This station is our train’s final destination, Tokyo, Tokyo station,” The long awaited moment had finally come as Iwaizumi gasped in realization. Feeling restless, Iwaizumi fiddled with his fingers as his knees couldn’t stop shaking. He placed his hands on his knees in a poor attempt to stop them. Noticing this, Suga slipped his hand in Iwaizumi’s, intertwining their fingers, hoping to give both of them strength to see Oikawa. _Let’s do this._ Hand in hand, they both stepped out of the train carrying their luggage. They had no trouble finding the exit because Suga was used to Tokyo, having been raised there. As they exited the main gates, they stood there for a moment, taking sight of their surroundings and the bustling crowd around them.

Standing still in the middle of the crowd, their mouths fell open as they watched a wheelchair-bound figure approach them. Suga’s and Iwaizumi’s eyes glistened with tears as they surged forward, Iwaizumi engulfing the figure in a hug, while Suga stood closely by, still shy since it was their first meeting after a long time. When Oikawa pulled Suga to join them in the hug, that was when the tears no longer pooled in their eyes and started to flow out of happiness. The longing they each felt disappeared as they embraced in each other’s warmth.

“You found me… You both found me,” between tears, Oikawa exclaimed in joy, hugging both his dear friends tightly. He knows he won’t ever let them go again.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! As always, kudos and comments are appreciated. This fic wasn't beta read or anything so I apologize for any mistakes or errors. Thank you!


End file.
